Insidious network, demand for cheap liquor: The making of a hooch tragedy in Bihar

In Bihar's Masrakh, a liquor tragedy led to 39 deaths after locals consumed industrial alcohol mixed with urea, highlighting ongoing prohibition challenges.

Masrakh is halfway between a city and a hamlet. The area sits at a tri-junction of highways, connecting Gopalganj, Siwan and Champaran, making it a node in western Bihar. In the British era, people from the impoverished hinterland flocked to Masrakh in search for jobs at factories that produced anything between iron, sugar and toffees. Today, the factories are shut but abandoned sprawling campuses and brick kilns dotting the dusty landscape provide just the ideal setting for the liquor seekers.

People being treated in a hospital in Saran, Bihar, after they consumed suspected spurious liquor last Wednesday. (PTI)

It is at one of those nondescript kilns where on October 13, a group of eight men allegedly mixed around two litres of toxic industrial liquor with diluted urea and unknown quantities of locally available intoxicants to create a toxic blend passed off as countrymade hooch, police said.

Days later, on October 15, at least 100 people in the two districts of Siwan and Saran consumed that illicit liquor, distributed by members of a local gang in plastic pouches containing around 100ml of liquid each.

By October 16, people had started to die. And by October 21, the number of deaths rose to 39, making it the worst such tragedy to rock the dry state in the last two years.

Unlike hooch tragedies elsewhere in the country or even in Bihar – Masrakh itself saw 70 people die in a similar incident two years ago – this case stood out because people didn’t gather at one spot to drink, or throw a party where spurious liquor was distributed. Instead, as police said, the liquor mafia used Masrakh’s strategic position at a tri-junction to quickly distribute the illicit alcohol to villages along the highway.

“We carry out regular checking at the tri-junction as well as all the vulnerable zones. Arrests and seizures are also made. We are investigating why and how there was a slip up, how the industrial spirit reached them and how the liquor was prepared. Action has already been taken against the police officers responsible for the area,” said Saran superintendent of police Kumar Ashish.

Underground network

Since Bihar clamped prohibition in accordance with chief minister Nitish Kumar’s pre-poll promise, an underground network of people brewing illegal liquor has thrived across the state. In these last eight years, the state has been rocked by at least over 40 tragedies, resulting in the deaths of over 300 people. While a variety of liquor brands continue to be available in urban areas, through touts and fixers, in the hinterland, groups of men have taken control of what is commonly known as a liquor mafia. In urban areas, people usually cough up double the list price for a preferred brand of liquor delivered at their doorsteps, in rural areas, people look for affordable alcohol and fall for country made brews without any standard specifications. Pouches cost just ₹20 to ₹50, depending on the area.

In the Masrakh case, for example, police said the gang had easy access to methanol used in factories. “A strong group of over 100 persons — some local and others from outside -- is involved with the lucrative spirit trade, which has found a ready thriving market post prohibition. What makes it deadly is the blending of all kinds of easily available intoxicants in an unspecified proportion,” said Shakti Bhushan Singh, a retired government official.

Saran’s superintendent of police (SP) admitted that industrial or methyl alcohol, which is proximate in chemical composition to ethyl or edible alcohol, found its way to Masrakh. “The investigation has pointed to the use of industrial spirit as the main ingredient and we are trying to find out how it reached here. The forensic science laboratory (FSL) is testing the samples to ascertain what was mixed with it,” he added.

The Saran SP said that the investigation pointed to the suspected supply of industrial alcohol from Jharkhand or Uttar Pradesh, as the tri-junction on National Highway 31 connects the two states up to the northeast, and the movement of heavy vehicles is frequent on the stretch.

The SP said eight people were named in the first information report. “Four of them have been arrested. Three of them are from Saran and one from Siwan.” He said that, according to the investigation, liquor was brewed at a brick kiln at Bilashpur village and then distributed to different locations. “One of the arrested liquor suppliers, Rajnikant from Bilaspur village told the police that 10 litres of industrial alcohol was purchased for preparing the deadly concoction,” he added.

Mukesh Kumar, a farmer, said that brewing of country liquor is done in remote farm lands and the stocks are also kept there away from public view. “Procuring industrial spirit is not difficult, as it is done by those involved in the trade. The stocks of industrial spirit are also kept hidden in remote places and liquor is prepared from it in phases as per demand,” said another villager, Dhaneshwar Rai.

Saran’s district magistrate Aman Samir said that the liquor consumed by people in Masrakh was found to have 80% methyl alcohol, which led to fatalities. “It is usually blended with ammonium nitrate (urea) and oxytocin, besides some medicines and even chemical drugs to prepare a lethal concoction,” he added.

Dangerous concoction

Methanol is considered extremely poisonous. As little as two tablespoons (30 millilitres) can be deadly to a child. About two to eight ounces (60 to 240 millilitres) can be deadly for an adult. Blindness is common and often permanent despite medical care. In this case, 12 people lost their vision.

“Methyl alcohol is dangerous and if concoctions are made using other contaminants or drugs or medicines in an unspecified quantity, it can be life threatening. Overdoses can kill,” said forensic psychiatrist Nikhil Goyal.

Locals said that with a ready underground market for liquor after prohibition, unscrupulous elements blended industrial alcohol with all kinds of intoxicants, including some scheduled as well as chemical drugs to make the concoctions heady for greater demand.

“Nobody knows what is mixed, as only the local brewers can disclose it,” said Ram Prasad, a local trader. Villagers said the process of making country liquor, too, had degraded with lax oversight.

“Earlier, government shops sold country as well as foreign liquor. Even country liquor was prepared after the spirit was distilled at a specified temperature and only ethyl alcohol was used for drinking. Now, it is done indiscriminately without any parameters and specifications, and people end up consuming poison,” said Ranjeet Prasad, a local labourer.

“The market has not reduced and the supplies have not stopped, only the quality has suffered to cause fatalities,” he said.

Assistant commissioner of the prohibition and excise department Keshav Jha said that it was hard to distinguish methyl alcohol and ethyl alcohol with the naked eye. “The colour and smell of both are the same. Methyl alcohol is generally used in manufacturing paint, plywood industry and other chemicals and solvents, but its consumption can be fatal, as it seems to have happened in this case,” he added.

Bootleggers in police net

In the last week, police in Saran launched a drive against bootleggers and conducted 307 raids, destroying 19,082 litres of country liquor. Police have also arrested 62 people, lodged 30 FIRs and 12 station diaries against the accused, and seized six motorcycles and an e-rickshaw.

“The vehicles were used by those involved in the trade of country made liquor for supplies. But these are small operators. Their handlers need to be caught. The entire operation begins with the supply of spirit, which comes from outside and requires good links,” said a police officer involved with the investigation.

“We are interrogating those caught to establish the trail. Raids are regularly conducted, but the stakes are high for those involved and they don’t hesitate taking the risk using their local connections,’ he added.

Indeed, solutions are not easy to find.

The tragedy of Masrakh is one that has played out in Bihar, over and over again, since April 2016 when prohibition was clamped. In these eight years, 1.28 million people have been arrested in connection with liquor consumption or trade; 332 million litres of liquor destroyed and 124, 656 vehicles impounded. Yet, the liquor mafia is undaunted.

“The problem is that many people still drink it because it is accessible. The poor cannot afford costly stuff, but they get cheaper alternatives, unmindful that they could prove fatal. Earlier, even country liquor was available at government shops. Now we know what has happened to us. But this may not be the last time,” said Puja Devi, wife of Dularchand Prasad, one of the deceased victims in the Siwan tragedy.