Another hooch tragedy, 8 die

After six deaths due to illicit liquor in Bahadurgarh in Ghaziabad just before Holi, eight more people had lost their lives to spurious liquor in Devli and Nanpur areas till Wednesday evening.

After six deaths due to illicit liquor in Bahadurgarh in Ghaziabad just before Holi, eight more people had lost their lives to spurious liquor in Devli and Nanpur areas till Wednesday evening.

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However, officials claim that the figure is five in Devli area and two in Nanpur, due to ‘other reasons.’

Since Tuesday, five people, in the age-group of 20-45, lost their lives in Devli and another dozen were reported to be admitted to Meerut Medical College in a critical condition.

The origin of the deaths was stated to be a re-packaged country-made brand named ‘Karina.’

This brand, police said, was manufactured in Aligarh (UP).

A top police official, requesting anonymity, stated that the spurious liquor mafia re-filled ‘Karina’ brand bottles with methanol, causing the deaths.

However, no arrests have been made so far, SSP said.

“Two dozen bottles of the ‘Karina’ brand were seized from a hide-out of a spurious-liquor supplier Tukki Pandit in Devli,” said Ghaziabad District Magistrate (DM) Ramesh Kumar.

Those who died were small and marginal farmers and reported failure of vital organs and even losing of eye-sight due to the liquid consumed during past two days.

Police said samples of liquor seized from the area were sent for chemical-testing at laboratories in Agra, Meerut and Delhi.

“We have detained Anand Kumar and Amit Singh (salesman at the sealed liquor-shop.) Another accused, Tukki Pandit, who supplied the spurious-liquor, was absconding,” said SSP Raghuvir Lal.

Despite a repeat of the liquor-tragedy, District Magistrate Kumar denied that the administration had failed to curb the inflow of spurious liquor into the district.