At least 10 villagers died and a dozen were taken ill after allegedly consuming spurious liquor in Azamgarh district on Monday morning.

The victims, who have been admitted to hospital, told police that they had bought country liquor from a government shop in the area, the police said.

Azamgarh district magistrate Amrit Tripathi said: “The villagers had bought liquor from the shop of one Rangesh Yadav. The police have arrested two persons for supplying poisonous liquor and are initiating action against them under National Security Act.”

The victims who died have been identified as Feku Sonkar and Jhabbu Sonkar of Vir Abdul Hamid Nagar, Ram Karan Sonkar of Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel Nagar, Sati Ram of Ambedkar Nagar, Achche Lal of Imamgarh, Vikram Bind of Rasulpur, Ramprit Yadav of Dakhimgaon, Chedilal and Buddhu Singh of Rajapurmafi, Pancham Singh of Lahurampur.

All these villages are around Mahul village, where the shop is locatad.

Azamgarh superintendent of police Anurag Arya said: “We are conducting an inquiry into the incident to track the supply chain. Some more accused may be arrested soon.”

The villagers organised dharna in Mahul where the shop is located.

“We had bought the liquor from the shop on Sunday evening. We developed nausea and started fainting. People started dying on Monday early morning,” said Ram Jatan, who is admitted to the district hospital. He said the police got activated when some villagers organised dharna in Mahul.

The incident may harm the ruling BJP in the elections.