At least 11 people died and several others fell critically ill allegedly after consuming spurious liquor in two villages under Maker and Bheldi police stations of Saran district. Bihar has been declared a dry State since April 2016.
Among those dead are Kamal Mahto, 65, Chandan Mahto, 30 and Sakaldeep Mahto, 48. “At least two dozen villagers have also fallen ill and admitted to different hospitals in Chhapra, the district headquarters of Saran and Patna while 14 of them have lost their eye sights”, a villager Nandkishore said.
The villagers of Nonia Toli of Phulwaria panchayat under Maker police station and Sanho-Bhatha under Bheldi police station are said to have consumed spurious liquor during Nag Panchami celebrations recently and later fell ill, lost eyesight and 11 of them died thereafter from August 3 to August 5.
Meanwhile, taking action the district police superintendent had put Maker police station in-charge Niraj Mishra under suspension on Friday. “Prima facie it appears that villagers had consumed spurious liquor and more than 10 have lost their vision”, admitted Saran District Magistrate Rajesh Meena. “
A team of doctors and paramedical staff have been sent to the village to ascertain the exact cause of death”, Mr. Meena added. “Senior police officials are camping in villages and we’ve begun an investigation into the incident”, said Saran Superintendent of Police Santosh Kumar. The police have arrested over a dozen people, including a local liquor trader Vishwakarma Mahato in the incident, the SP added.
“My father-in-law had consumed liquor which is readily available in the village. Several villagers too had consumed liquor and later developed health complications like vomiting and losing eyesight. My father-in-law died while being taken to PMCH”, Mithilesh Mahato told media persons. Earlier on August 2, two persons had also died allegedly after consuming spurious liquor at Ramdaspur village under Bhorha panchayat in the same Saran district.
The sale, consumption and trade of liquor is banned in Bihar since April 2016. The State government had taken several initiatives to effectively implement the provisions of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 for violators of the law. Recently, drones were used and the Anti-Liquor Task Force (ALTF) of police personnel was formed to arrest those involved in the liquor trade, and manufacture of consumption in the dry State.
“In last seven months, as many as 73,413 people were arrested in the State, of which 40,074 were nabbed by ALTF personnel. During this period 52, 770 FIRs were registered at different police stations of the State under the new liquor laws”, a senior official at Patna Police headquarters told The Hindu, requesting anonymity.
“As many as 233 teams of ALTF spread in all 38 districts of the State are working round the clock in coordination with district police to nab offenders of the new liquor law”, he added.
