Thirty four people died in two adjoining districts allegedly after drinking spurious liquor at a village in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar district, officials said on Friday.
The victims had consumed the liquor on Thursday evening at a mourning ritual in Balupur village.
While 16 people died in Balupur village, 18 died in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district, which adjoins Uttarakhand, as the people who had attended the ritual returned home.
Some of them had carried the liquor home, an official said.
While 18 deaths were recorded in the western district of Saharanpur, eight died in Kushinagar in Purvanchal, according to R.K. Gautam, U.P. police spokesperson. The toll could go up as police were yet to announce the final figure.
In Saharanpur, deaths were recorded in Umahi, Sarbatpur, Mali and Kolka Kalan village in Sadar area, while four died in Salempur and one in Mayahedi under Deoband area.
Meanwhile, eight people have died over the week in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar district after drinking hooch, officials said.
(With PTI inputs)
