At least 104 people have so far been died in northern India after drinking bootleg liquor, the latest in several tragedies caused by illegal alcohol that turned out to be poisonous.More than 50 people died in Uttar
Pradesh’s Saharanpur district, while 18 more died at the Meerut Medical College, the IANS news agency reported. In a separate incident, 32 people died in the city of Haridwar, Uttarakhand. According to Indian officials, more than 200 people were arrested during a crackdown launched after the mass poisoning.
The deaths were in two neighboring states, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
The autopsies are not yet complete, Pandey said, and the death toll is likely to rise. Other victims are being treated in local hospitals, and “doctors are trying their best to save their lives.”
In a neighboring district in Uttarakhand, 32 people died after consuming illegal liquor served to them as part of a mourning ritual.
Authorities say they believe the two incidents are linked, with mourners probably having made the journey from Uttar Pradesh to Uttarakhand to transport liquor to sell.
Eight people also died in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh in an unconnected tragedy in a village in the district of Kushinagar. Residents there drank tainted liquor at a fair organized to celebrate a festival, said Rajeev Narayan Mishra, the district administrator. He began receiving reports of the deaths on Thursday.
Deaths from illicit liquor are common in India, where illegally manufactured alcohol is often consumed for reasons including poverty and geographic isolation. Bootleggers have been known to add methanol, a toxic substance used in antifreeze, to such brews; it can also be present because of a mistake in the distilling process.
The state government in Uttar Pradesh has made dozens of arrests in the wake of the deaths and suspended local bureaucrats and police officers. “Whoever is responsible will not be spared,” said Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, according to a media report. He also announced compensation for relatives of the deceased and those undergoing treatment in hospitals.
According to the latest figures from India’s National Crime Records Bureau, 1,522 people died of drinking spurious liquor in 2015 — nearly all of them men.
In 2015, more than 100 people died in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, after consuming illegal liquor. The victims were mostly laborers with daily wages who lived in one of the city’s slums and who bought small plastic packets of bootleg alcohol for less than 10 cents, according to media reports. It was the worst such tragedy to hit the city in a decade.
Another mass poisoning due to bootleg liquor took place in 2011 in the state of West Bengal, where more than 140 people died.
