The death toll in the Malvani hooch tragedy continues to rise and stood at 90 on Saturday evening. About 34 people are still being treated at various hospitals.
Funeral pyres have not stopped burning for the last 48 hours at the cremation ground near Malvani. At the nearby cemetery, distraught families have been queuing up to bury their dead. This is Mumbai’s worst hooch tragedy since 2004 when 87 died in Vikhroli.
At the rain-ravaged Lakshminagar slum in Malvani, the deaths have pushed distraught families deeper into penury as the killer brew claimed the breadwinners from every house. Shashikala Singh would light the cooking fire only after her husband Bansi Singh, 40, brought home the daily earnings of Rs. 100, after working 12 hours at odd jobs. “Now there is no ration in the house. What am I supposed to do?” she said as her four children watched her cry. Her leaky shelter of tarpaulin rags is no match to the fury of the monsoon lashing the city. Bansi consumed the liquor on Thursday morning. “By night, his head and chest started aching. His vision became unclear and he vomited thrice. On the way to the hospital he implored, ‘Save me,’ but I could not save him,” Shashikala said.
Most people who drank the contaminated liquor reported similar symptoms. Radha Rangshinde, wife of 30-year-old Mavan who died, has two children of eight and two years to take care of and is hoping for some government support. “The slum has plunged into darkness. Young women have become widows,” said Mavan’s sister Meena Shinde.
8 cops suspendedEight police personnel, including senior police inspector Prakash Patil, have been suspended for negligence. Four excise officials, inspector Jagdish Deshmukh, sub-inspector Rajendra Salunkhe and constables Varsha Vengulkar and Dhanaji Dalvi were also suspended. The large number of suspensions point to complicity by the authorities in the sale of illicit liquor, especially since the houses of the suppliers are at the entrance of the slum. Neighbours of the one of the main accused Raju Langda, one of the liquor suppliers, said he had dug a pit inside his house to store illicit liquor. Residents alleged that ‘hathbhatti’ – the local term for country liquor – would be brewed in the forested areas like the Borivali National Park or the Aarey milk colony and other locations.
However, the Excise department has said the liquor was manufactured in neighbouring Thane. The stock would then be despatched to Raju and he would in turn add other ingredients such as jaggery and some bleaching agents. The police suspect the presence of methanol in high quantities in the liquor, but forensic reports are still awaited to confirm the specific chemical, Mumbai Police spokesperson Dhananjay Kulkarni told The Hindu .
