Patna: At least 19 people have died after consuming suspected spurious liquor in four districts of Bihar in the past seven days.
Four persons lost their lives in Gopalganj district on Sunday evening. Of them, three belonged to Shivrajpur village Kuchaikot police station and one from Pendula Ramsen village.
The deceased have been identified as Hiralal Shah, Saheb Lal Yadav, and Harendra Yadav of Shivrajpur village and Om Prakash Bhagat of Pendula Ramsen village. They had consumed liquor on Saturday evening.
They then complained of abdominal pain, uneasiness and low visibility at night and were rushed to private hospitals in Gopalganj where they succumbed.
The families of the deceased took away the bodies without post-mortems.
Earlier, five persons lost their lives in Basaha Sonwalia village under Baikunthpur police station on Saturday.
Besides, five persons lost their lives to suspected poisonous liquor in Bhagalpur. The deceased had consumed liquor on Saturday in a marriage function. Another person has also lost his eyesight in the incident.
On Tuesday, three persons died due to the same in Debar village under Daraunda police station in Siwan and two persons in Nautan tola under Nautan police station in Bettiah.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, during the budget session in Assembly, claimed that he would not let off any body who consumes or trades liquor in the state.
“We are using drones and helicopters to keep an eye on liquor operations in Bihar and we will soon use aeroplanes (Light aircrafts) as well. The state government has also purchased motor boats and provided special training to sniffer dogs for the detection of liquor in the state,” Kumar said.
DGP S.K. Singhal also asked the officials of Bihar police to monitor hooligans through drones and helicopters in run-up to the Holi. He has directed the field officers to implement the same on priority basis. People of the state are expected to celebrate Holi in a bigger way this year as the threat of Corona is temporarily removed.
