In dry state of Bihar, spurious liquor kills 12

This incident has again exposed that despite prohibition being in force in Bihar, alcohol is still available in the black market and that the liquor mafia is very much active. M I Khan reports from Patna.

Twelve people have died after suspected consumption of spurious liquor in Gopalganj district of Bihar.

Gopalganj District Magistrate has ordered an investigation into the mysterious death of 12 persons during treatment at a local hospital.

According to district police officials, the victims were brought to the hospital after their condition deteriorated on Tuesday night. However, they could not be revived.

"The victims developed uneasiness followed by stomach pain, vomiting and lack of consciousness," they said.

The family members of the victims -- all of whom belong to the Mahadalit community -- said they consumed spurious liquor on Tuesday.

"The deaths have been reported from different areas of five police stations of the district in the past 24 hours. One person is admitted at a Sadar hospital," Kumar told PTI.

A single reason may not be the cause of the deaths with the deaths having been reported at different time from different locations under five police stations of Majha, Thawe, Yadavpur, Sidhwalia and Kotwali, Kumar said.

Of the 12, the administration has taken possession of the bodies of five persons from their relatives for carrying out postmortem as the remaining seven bodies have already been cremated by the relatives, he added.

"This incident has again exposed that despite prohibition being in force in Bihar, alcohol is still available in the black market and that the liquor mafia is very much active," an official in the prohibition and excise department admitted.

A case has been lodged and a probe is underway.

Attacking Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over his "Tuglaqi" diktat, the Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded he take responsibility for the death of 12 persons.

BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain accused the state government of working to cover up the reason for these deaths, but said the party supported prohibition.

Taking a dig at Kumar over his prohibition pitch in various parts of the country, he told a press conference that people of Bihar had elected him with a lot of hope and believed his many promises but he "discusses nothing but prohibition".

The Bihar government had enforced total prohibition in the state from April 5, 2016.

Over 1.5 lakh litres of banned liquor -- 96,878.66 litres of country-made liquor, 52,530.446 litres of Indian Made Foreign Liquor and 13,153 litres of spirit -- have been recovered within four months, a police official said, adding that 4,707 people have been arrested and and 3,719 FIRs lodged since the ban was enforced.

With inputs from PTI

Respresentational Image. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters