Six villagers have died while three others have been admitted to hospital after consuming suspected spurious liquor in Bihar’s Buxar district late on Wednesday.
According to the police, the incident took place at Amsari village under Murar police station of Buxar district. This is the third alleged hooch tragedy in Bihar since January 1.
Earlier, 13 people had died in a similar incident at Nalanda on January 13 and 18 others at Saran on January 18 after consuming spurious liquor.
Confirming the incident, ASP (Dumraon) Raj (one name only) told HT that at present six people had died in the incident. “The police have identified the place where they consumed the poisonous liquid. Police recovered some substance from the spot and sent it to FSL for tests,” said the ASP.
He said that the police had received information about the incident around 11.30 pm after the death of the first victim Anandi Singh.
According to the villagers, over a dozen people consumed liquor in a hut at around 7.30 pm, on the outskirts of Amsari village, barely two-kilometres from the local police station. The dead were identified as—Sukhu Mushar (60), Shiv Mohan Yadav (50), Bhirgu Singh (48), Miku Singh (39) Ranjit Ram and Anandi Kumar Singh (30) of Amsari village while the sixth person is said to be from another village.
Three people identified as — Bunty Singh, Munna Choudhary and Sanjay Choudhary— are undergoing treatment at the Shivratri Hospital in a critical condition. Miku’s elder brother Dharmendra Kumar Singh told HT that his brother consumed liquor and his condition deteriorated around 9.45 pm and he died at the Dumraon Sadar hospital.
Sukhu’s wife Tetri Devi also admitted that her husband died after consuming liquor. “My husband returned home around 10.30 pm and he fell ill around 11.55 pm complaining of nausea, headache, vomiting and uneasiness and died on the way to hospital,” she added.
On getting information Buxar SP Niraj Kumar Singh, DM Aman Samir and the excise superintendent reached the spot and inquired about the incident.
Buxar DM Aman Samir said that in the preliminary inquiry, it seems that all the five people died after taking some poisonous substance. He, however, said only a forensic report would confirm whether they had consumed hooch or not. “A probe team will be constituted under the supervision of the excise superintendent,” added DM Aman Samir.
