PATNA: At least six people died allegedly after consuming spurious liquor in Bihar's West Champaran district during 36 hours on Sunday. The incident has put senior officials of the district on their toes due to liquor ban in the state.
The tragedy struck at Mathia village under Lauria police station limits. Initially, 35-year-old Pradip Gupta died allegedly after consuming spurious liquor on Friday night. The next day five others, including Suresh Choudhary (42), Manish Choudhary (22), Neyaz Shah (25) and Shiv Ram (60) died.
The relatives of the sixth victim, however, cremated the body before the arrival of police to the village on Sunday. Locals said that all the deceased belonging to Mathia village were addicted to alcohol and used to consume the banned material even after protests from their family members.
Surya Prakash Gupta, sub-divisional officer (SDO) of Lauria, said that the district administration got information about the death of six people at Mathia village under mysterious circumstances. Subsequently, a medical team was dispatched to the village.
"The cause of death of the victims will be ascertained after post-mortem. A medical team has been sent to the affected village for investigation. The report of the medical team is awaited," SDO Gupta said, adding that further action will be initiated on the findings of the medical team.
Rameshwar Gupta, father of one of the deceased Pradip Gupta, said that his son complained of stomach ache, loss of eyesight, vomiting tendency and nausea soon after he returned home from a local market late on Friday.
He was rushed to the primary health centre at Lauria from where he was referred to Bettiah based government hospital. However, he died on the way to the hospital at Bettiah, the district headquarters town of West Champaran district.
When contacted, Bettiah civil surgeon (in-charge) Dr Murtuza Ansari said, "A medical team headed by medical officer Dr. Dilip Kumar has been sent to the affected village to collect evidence to corroborate the statement of the relatives' of the deceased."
"So far we have received information about the death of four to five people due to the consumption of some poisonous substance," the civil surgeon (in charge) said. He said that the cause of death will be ascertained after post-mortem. The autopsy report is still awaited," he added.
In October last year, 47 people died after consuming illicit liquor in Saran, Siwan and Gopalganj districts. The next month, another hooch claimed two lives in Begusarai district.
Prohibition came into effect in Bihar in October 2016. Under the new prohibition policy, manufacturing, consumption, storage and sale are completely banned in the state.
More than 300 people have died in separate hooch tragedies in Bihar since it was enforced on October 2, 2016. Over one lakh people have been booked under relevant sections of the prohibition law.