At least 12 persons have died in last 12 hours in Gopalganj after allegedly drinking spurious countrymade liquor. Relatives of the victims – mostly vegetables vendors and daily wage workers – confirmed death because of drinking liquor. Gopalganj District Magistrate Rahul Kumar, who confirmed 10 deaths so far, said they would wait for postmortem report to conclusively tell reasons of feath. The district administration has formed three teams to probe reasons of the deaths.
This could be the first instance of hooch teagedy after Bihar government imposed total ban on liquor this April. Though the government is in denial mode, Gopalganj incident may bring huge embarrassment to Nitish Kumar goverment that claims to have cracked down on manufacture and sale of liquor. Gopalganj is home district of RJD chief Lalu Prasad.
Nonia Toli area of Gopalganj town alone reported seven deaths. Several relatives said over one and a half dozen people – mostly habitual drinkers – had drank liquor at Khajurbani near railways crossing on Harkhua Road under Town police station on Monday night. The area has been infamous for selling liquor clandestinely for Rs 80-100 per pouch despite prohibition.
Most people had started complaining of nausea, headache, vomiting and uneasiness since Tuesday morning. They were first admitted to Sadar Hospital of the town, Six persons were later referred to Gorakhpur. By late evening, six persons died but local administration played it down and called it death under mysterious circumstances.
[Source: The Indian Express]
