The Hindu : Front Page : Hooch death toll 105; Congress seeks Modi resignation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 10, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Hooch death toll 105; Congress seeks Modi resignation

Manas Dasgupta

— Photo: PTI

KILLER DRINK: Relatives mourn a loved one who died after consuming illicit liquor in Ahmedabad’s Rakhiyaal area on Thursday.

AHMEDABAD: The Congress has demanded the resignation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of State for Home Amit Shah on moral grounds, even as the death toll in the hooch tragedy here went up to 105 by Thursday evening.

While official sources refused to disclose the actual number of casualties, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Shaktisinh Gohil said the incident was threatening to emerge as the biggest ever hooch tragedy in the dry State, surpassing even the 132 deaths recorded in Vadodara in 1989.

At least 150 people are undergoing treatment in various hospitals, and new cases from the labour-dominated eastern Ahmedabad localities are still pouring in. Reports collected from the hospitals confirmed 105 deaths, while the condition of about 40 people was stated to be critical.

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation Assistant Commissioner Dillip Mahajan confirmed 65 deaths in the three municipal corporation hospitals, while civil hospital sources said at least 40 people died or were brought dead to the government hospital.

State Health Commissioner Amarjit Singh, who visited some of the hospitals to supervise medical aid to patients, said he could confirm only 50 deaths based on post mortem conducted. Unless post mortem reports confirmed the other deaths as also having been caused by spurious liquor, it would be wrong to add them to the hooch tragedy tally, he said.

The police succeeded in breaking the hooch chain with the arrest of Harishankar Kahar, who they claim was the main supplier of the killer brew. Kahar was arrested here early in the morning.

The police conducted raids on all known liquor dens and rounded up over 800 alleged bootleggers, including around 30 women who helped their families prepare the brew or acted as conduits to supply the illicit liquor.

Kahar, it is claimed, disclosed to the police that between July 5 and 6, he had supplied about 1,000 litres of country liquor to different bootleggers in the city, but he was not sure whether the entire consignment was spurious.

“Kingpin is from BJP”

Mr. Gohil claimed that the spurious liquor which accounted for at least 105 deaths so far had come from Mehmadabad, near here, and had been distributed through 14 centres in the city.

However, he alleged, those being arrested were “small people” in the illegal trade, and named a former BJP member of the Mehmadabad municipality as the “kingpin” in the entire racket. Mr. Shah, denying the allegation of political protection, said the investigation so far had not indicated any link of Lathha (hooch) manufacturers with any BJP leader.

Meanwhile, Justice Kamal Mehta, retired judge of the Gujarat High Court, appointed by the government to constitute a one-man judicial inquiry commission, visited the L. G. hospital and other hospitals where victims are being treated, and spoke to some of the doctors.

Noisy scenes in House

In the Assembly, Congress members, demanding an adjournment motion on the hooch tragedy, raised slogans and rushed into the well as soon as the House assembled for the day. Some of them broke mikes; following this seven opposition members were suspended for the remaining period of the budget session.

Speaker Ashok Bhatt ordered that Rs. 3,600 be recovered from three Congress members towards damage to the mikes.

Demonstrations were organised in various parts of the State, holding the police responsible for the hooch tragedy, and effigies of the Chief Minister and the Home Minister were burnt.

The tussle between the police and the agitating people continued in several parts of the city, where the police also targeted some mediapersons for reporting on the police-bootlegger nexus.

The Youth Congress has called an Ahmedabad bandh for Friday, protesting “police inaction,” which it said was the cause of the liquor tragedy.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page