Gujarat spurious liquor death toll rises to seven, 30 hospitalised

The death toll from the consumption of spurious liquor in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district has risen to seven, while 30 people remain in hospital, police said on Thursday.

Twelve suspected bootleggers have so far been detained, and an FIR has been registered against 21 people, Bhavnagar Range inspector general of police R.V. Asari said.

The victims are believed to have consumed toxic liquor sold in counterfeit bottles bearing the label of a popular Indian-made foreign liquor brand. Gujarat is a dry state where the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol are prohibited.

Police initially registered a case of accidental death after a man died following the consumption of chemical-laced liquor in Kharakadi village, which falls under the Vartej police station. An FIR was subsequently filed naming 21 accused, Asari said.

The State Monitoring Cell has been assigned to investigate the case alongside the local police.

The district administration was alerted at around 6 pm on Tuesday after five friends fell ill following a drinking party in Kharakadi village in Ghogha taluka, Bhavnagar Collector Manish Kumar said. It later emerged that people from other villages and parts of Bhavnagar city had also been affected.

Bhavnagar superintendent of police Nitesh Pandey said medical examinations had revealed a common pattern among most of the patients: their health deteriorated after they consumed liquor from counterfeit bottles.

Preliminary findings indicate that the bottles may have been brought from Madhya Pradesh. Investigators are working to determine their exact origin, where the spurious liquor was produced and who arranged its supply to Bhavnagar.

Police have seized several bottles carrying the same brand label from suspected bootleggers and are searching for others believed to be involved in the distribution network.

Doctors from Sir T Hospital and Ahmedabad’s Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre have been deployed to supervise free treatment camps operating at private hospitals.

With PTI inputs