The death toll in the Bhavnagar spurious liquor case rose to 11 on Saturday after three more people died, including one who died while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Surat, Bhavnagar district SP Nitesh Pandey said.
Police have also removed suspected substances found at some locations. A total of 61 people have been affected in the incident, officers said. Key accused Raees was arrested on Friday and remanded in police custody for nine days, taking the total number of arrests to 14, officers said. Police have registered cases against 21 accused. Vaghani said police had traced around 29 people who may have consumed the suspected substance and arranged medical examinations and treatment for them. Bhavnagar SP Pandey said 16 teams were working on the investigation.
Some of the accused also face other criminal cases, he said. Two police inspectors and five other police personnel were suspended after a preliminary investigation found negligence, Vaghani said.
State government spokesperson and agriculture minister Jitu Vaghani said on Friday that the government had handed over the investigation to the State Monitoring Cell (SMC).
