NE NEWS SERVICE
PATNA, NOV 4
Twenty-four people have died and several others fell ill after consuming suspected spurious liquor in Gopalganj and West Champaran districts of Bihar, where total prohibition is in place, in the last two days.
Eight persons died on Thursday after allegedly consuming hooch in Telhua village at Bettiah, the headquarters of West Champaran district, while the toll in another incident of consumption of suspected spurious liquor in Gopalganj climbed to 16 on Thursday with six more deaths being confirmed by the district authorities. The administrations of both districts have not confirmed the cause of the deaths so far.
The Telhua hooch tragedy is the third incident such incident in north Bihar in the last ten days.
Bihar minister Janak Ram rushed to Gopalganj. He later told reporters “I have visited the houses of persons who died allegedly because of consuming spurious liquor. It could be a conspiracy to defame the NDA government.”
Gopalganj superintendent of police Anand Kumar said, “Some people have died under mysterious circumstances in Muhammadpur village in the district in the last two days. The cause of their death cannot be confirmed as autopsy reports are still awaited. Three teams are probing the case.”
Some of the bodies have been cremated by their families, the local police said.
They said that four persons died on Thursday when they were undergoing treatment and another two on way to the hospital.
Prima facie these deaths appear to have occured due to the consumption of some poisonous substance and the police have registered a case. Four persons have been arrested in connection with the incident which took place between Tuesday and Wednesday, the police said. Over 20 persons, mostly belonging to scheduled castes, had allegedly consumed spurious liquor being sold by local traders in the area and have been identified by the police.
The dead in West Champaran have been identified as residents of wards 2, 3 and 4 of Telhua village. In this incident too the district administration is yet to confirm the reason for their death.
West Champran superintendent of police Upendra Nath Verma said that investigation into the case is on and senior officials of the district administration and police are camping at Telhua.
Villagers claimed that all the victims had consumed liquor at Chamartoli area of Telhua village on Wednesday evening. “After consuming liquor, the condition of eight of them deteriorated and they were taken to the nearby hospital where they died today”.
There are reports that some more villagers who too consumed liquor, have been admitted to different hospitals in the area.
