NEW DELHI, Nov 4: At least eight people have and several others have taken ill and fighting for their lives after consuming suspected spurious liquor in West Champaran district in Bihar, which has introduced prohibition, on Thursday.
Residents claimed that the victims, all from Telhua village, had consumed liquor in Chamartoli area on Wednesday evening, but the police in view of the government’s prohibition law refused to confirm if they had consumed liquor.
A senior police officer, however, said all eight deceased have been identified. Talking to reporters, Superintendent of Police Upendra Nath Verma said, “It is a case of unnatural death and more information will be available only after a preliminary investigation.” Senior officials of the district administration and the police are camping in the village to find out details in the case, he added.
A villager, however, claimed that “After consuming liquor, people started complaining of uneasiness and were taken to a nearby hospital. All eight of them died this morning. There are others currently undergoing treatment in various local hospitals.” Last month, in a similar incident, eight people died in Muzaffarpur. The Nitish Kumar government on April 5, 2016, had banned the “manufacture, trade, storage, transportation and consumption of liquor” in entire Bihar.
(Manas Dasgupta)
