Bihar twin spurious liquor cases: Death toll reaches 23

At least 16 people were killed and four others lost their eye sight due to alleged consumption of spurious liquor in villages of Lauriya and Ramnagar block in Bihar’s West Champaran district in July this year

The death toll in two suspected spurious liquor consumption cases from Bihar has climbed to 23 on Friday with eight fresh casualties-- six from West Champaran and two from Gopalganj districts . At least 24 arrests and five detentions have been affected in both cases combined apart from suspension of four cops-- two from each district, police officers said.

10 others who had taken ill after consumption of alleged toxic hooch were undergoing treatment at a hospital. (PTI Photo Representative use)

Separately, West Champaran and Gopalganj have recorded 12 and 11 deaths respectively in the twin hooch tragedies around Dipawali, an official said. West Champaran’s superintendent of police (SP) Upendra Nath Verma confirmed six more deaths in the district took place over the last 24 hours.

“We are waiting for the post-mortem report to reach any conclusion. Prima facie, these deaths appear to have occurred due to the consumption of poisonous substances,” the SP said.

Verma added that 10 others who had taken ill after consumption of alleged toxic hooch in the district were undergoing treatment. Similarly in Gopalganj, four people were under treatment for severe illness due to consumption of suspected illicit hooch.

A local station house officer (SHO) and one chowkidar have been suspended in West Champaran following the incident, the SP said. Talking of arrests in the Champaran hooch tragedy case, Mukul Parimal Pandey, sub divisional police officer (SDPO), Bettiah (sadar) said four persons including two women have been arrested and five others were detained for questioning.

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“Raids are on to arrest more accused in this connection,” Pandey added.

Sale and consumption of liquor is banned in Bihar since April 2016.

However, this is the second such incident in West Champaran since July this year. At least 16 people were killed and four others lost their eye sight due to alleged consumption of spurious liquor in villages of Lauriya and Ramnagar block in July this year.

In Gopalganj, officials said over a dozen villagers complained of nausea, headache, vomiting and vision issues in Kushar village of the district after allegedly consuming spurious liquor, and were rushed by their kin to private hospitals in Gopalganj and Motihari districts.

“The SHO (Shashi Ranjan Kumar) of Mohammadpur and a chowkidar have been suspended,” said Anand Kumar, superintendent of police (SP), Gopalganj. In all, 20 people have been arrested in the Gopalganj case, he said.

In a related development, a joint team of Gopalganj police and excise department conducted raids on 63 locations and seized 572 liters of liquors including country made and Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL).