Bhavnagar, The death toll due to the consumption of spurious liquor in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district went up to 13 on Sunday after two more victims succumbed during treatment, officials said.
Gujarat is a ‘dry’ state where the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol is banned. The probe has been handed over to the State Monitoring Cell, a special Gujarat police unit that tracks state-wide illicit liquor and gambling operations. They involved Narendra Yadav, also from Madhya Pradesh, in the illegal business. Teams have also been sent to Madhya Pradesh and Delhi, from where the raw material was likely supplied to Gujarat.
Police have so far arrested 13 of the 21 accused named in the FIR registered at Vartej police station in connection with the hooch tragedy. A local court on Thursday remanded the arrested persons to police custody for 10 days. Raees and Zuber, his assistant from Ujjain, procured raw materials from Ahmedabad and prepared the toxic liquor at Solanki’s residence, according to the FIR registered at Vartej police station on August 19.
The victims consumed spurious liquor packed in bottles bearing the name of a popular Indian-made foreign liquor brand, according to police. Solanki told the police that he came in contact with Raees through a common friend. Yadav, police later said, died after consuming the liquor that he himself prepared. Prima facie, most of these people did this for financial gain, according to police.
The examination of the blood sample of the first victim, Upendrasinh Gohil, showed the presence of methanol. More deaths followed, and many more were hospitalised with severe complications.
