At least five people have died, while several others have been hospitalized after consuming suspected spurious liquor in Siwan and the adjoining Saran district of Bihar, where prohibition has been in force for the past eight consecutive years.
The authorities are now trying to track more such people who might be ailing in hiding due to apprehensions of legal action against them. This tragic incident is another grim reminder of how killer country liquor is taking its toll in a state that has seen such tragedies at intervals for several years.
With the administration looking into the actual cause of those deaths, the death count might go higher. Residents of the area have connected their deaths to the consumption of spurious liquor over the bad condition of the victims. Promptly, the Bihar police prohibition unit has formed a special investigation team under an Additional Police Superintendent to investigate the incident more critically.
Additional police superintendent Rakesh Kumar, Saran, visited Chhapra Sadar Hospital after reports of the suspected hooch tragedy. He said two people, Mohammad Shamshad and Mumtaz Ansari, lost vision after hospitalization, while another died on the way to the medical center. Kumar asked the local people to inform them about the liquor smuggling while ensuring no harassment would be caused to innocent people in his investigation.
Alam Ansari, the father of one of the deceased, said three members of his family consumed spurious liquor during a fish curry and rice gathering on Tuesday evening. After a few hours, they developed severe symptoms such as vomiting, headache, and loss of vision. Ansari added that his nephew, Islamuddin Ansari, was referred from Masrakh Primary Health Centre to Chhapra Sadar Hospital but died en route.
District Magistrate Saran Aman Samir said he was informed about the death of one and the hospitalization of two others. In the neighboring Siwan, four deaths were reported, and scores of others were in critical condition in the villages of Maghri and Baiskattha. Authorities claimed two bodies were sent for post-mortem, but the villagers claimed the bodies of two men, Arvind Singh and Jagmohan Singh, were consigned to flames under pressure from local police.
Siwan police superintendent Amitesh Kumar said a proper investigation was underway. Station House Officer Ramashankar Shah said the deaths were reported from two villages, adding villagers blamed spurious liquor consumption for the fatalities. “The post-mortems of two persons have been conducted, and investigation is continuing,” he said.
A spate of deaths owing to spurious liquor consumption has sent shockwaves throughout Bihar, with many now renewing their calls for a review of the prohibition, which was linked to repeated hooch tragedies.
In 2016, prohibition was brought in based on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s election promise after strong demands by women’s groups against alcoholism. However, the prohibition brought in its trail an underground trade in liquor and posed serious public health risks caused huge revenue losses and continued to kill people because of impure alcohol.
