The death toll in the spurious liquor tragedy in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district rose to 13 on Sunday after two more victims died during treatment, officials said. Three others remain hospitalised.
Mukesh Damor, 36, and Bhargav Upadhyay, 42, were the latest victims. Damor was undergoing treatment at the civil hospital, while Upadhyay was admitted to a private hospital. Five people have died in the past two days.
At least 67 people had consumed the liquor, which was found to contain methanol, a highly toxic substance. Authorities also traced 24 others who had consumed the liquor and sent them for medical examination. All were found to be in normal health, an official said.
Gujarat is a 'dry' state where the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol is banned. Police said the victims had consumed spurious liquor packed in bottles bearing the name of a popular Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) brand.
Police have arrested 13 of the 21 accused named in the FIR registered at Vartej police station. They have been booked for offences including culpable homicide not amounting to murder, adulteration and poisoning under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prohibition Act. A local court on Thursday remanded the arrested accused to 10 days in police custody.
The investigation has been handed over to the State Monitoring Cell, a specialised Gujarat Police unit that tracks illicit liquor and gambling operations across the state.
According to the FIR, the spurious liquor was allegedly prepared at the Vartej residence of Gautam Solanki with the help of Raees, who has been detained in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. The liquor was packed and sealed in bottles carrying an IMFL label and supplied to bootleggers for distribution.
The case came to light after three friends consumed the liquor in Vartej on the night of August 16. All three fell ill and one later died. Blood tests of the first victim, Upendrasinh Gohil, detected methanol, following which more deaths were reported and several people were hospitalised with serious complications.
A Forensic Science Laboratory report found that the liquor contained 38.59 per cent methanol and 0.94 per cent ethanol.
Police said Solanki told investigators that he had been introduced to Raees through a common friend. Raees and Zuber, his assistant from Ujjain, allegedly procured raw materials from Ahmedabad and prepared the liquor at Solanki’s house, according to the FIR filed on August 19.
They allegedly brought Narendra Yadav, also from Madhya Pradesh, into the operation. Police said Yadav later died after consuming the liquor he had prepared.
Investigation teams have been sent to Madhya Pradesh and Delhi to trace the possible sources of the raw materials. Police suspect that financial gain was the primary motive behind the operation.
Investigators are also examining the source of the bottle-sealing equipment and identifying the person who supplied it.
(With inputs from PTI)