E-Paper
14 ‘hooch’ deaths in dry Bihar
GOPALGANJ: Fourteen people died after allegedly consuming spurious country-made liquor at a convivial ceremony in the Gopalganj district of Bihar late on Monday,
GOPALGANJ: Fourteen people died after allegedly consuming spurious country-made liquor at a convivial ceremony in the Gopalganj district of Bihar late on Monday, prompting the district administration to form three teams to ascertain the reason behind the deaths.
Though the administration initially attributed the deaths to illness, relatives of some victims — mostly vegetables vendors and daily wage workers —claimed the deaths happened due to spurious liquor. Khajurbanni was earlier infamous for illicit liquor trade.
Nonia Toli area of Gopalganj town alone reported four deaths. Locals said over 15 persons — all habitual drinkers — had consumed liquor at Khajurbanni.
“They developed complications immediately and by Tuesday evening, when their condition deteriorated, they were rushed to local hospitals. Some were even taken to Gorakhpur in the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh,” they added.
District magistrate Rahul Kumar and SP Raviranjan Kumar who visited the victims at Sadar Hospital held an emergency meeting with civil surgeons and doctors.
Sources said several bodies were cremated fearing police action. Those who died at the government hospital were identified as Mantu Giri, Durgesh Sah, Parma Mahto, Ramu Ram (all from Town PS), Anil Ram, Manoj Sah (both from Thave), Sadhu Mahto, Bhuteli Sharma (both from Manjha), Dinanath Manjhi, Sobrati Mian, Ramaji Sharma (Harakhua), Binod Singh (Sahabjawan), Shashikant (Khwajepur) and Dharmendra Kumar (Siddhwalia).
The abandoned bodies of Binod and Dharmendra were recovered by police from Rajendra Nagar and Vishnu Sugar mills localities.
Of the 14 bodies, the administration has taken possession of six bodies to carry out postmortem, while the remaining were understood to have been hastily cremated. Kumar said, “We have collected the blood samples. The cause of deaths has not been confirmed yet,” he added.
