At least two people were killed and two others lost their vision in a hooch incident that hit Muzaffarpur district in dry Bihar on Sunday.
The number of affected people could increase further as the police and district administration were conducting door-to-door searches to find out the people who have fallen ill after consuming illicit liquor.
The incident occurred at the Pokhariya Pir area under Kazi Mohammadpur police station. The deceased have been identified as Umesh Sah, 50, and Pappu Ram, 32, while Dharmendra Kumar and Raju Sah lost their vision after consuming spurious liquor.
All the affected people had consumed country liquor on Friday and Saturday. They started complaining about nausea, headache, stomachache, dizziness, trouble in breathing, and diminishing vision a few hours after drinking. Two of them succumbed on Sunday morning.
Victims’ families said that they had bought hooch from an ice factory in the area which served as a front to sell liquor.
“We got information about the death of two persons in suspicious circumstances and two others being unwell at Ambedkar Colony at Pokhariya Pir. The locals, during preliminary verification, have expressed the possibility of illicit spurious liquor as the reason behind the deaths,” Muzaffarpur SSP Rakesh Kumar said.
Police officials have identified one Shiv Chandra Paswan for selling spurious liquor. He is absconding.
Minor dies, hospital ransacked
Bhubaneswar: A five-year-old girl died after she was administered an injection by a doctor in Odisha’s Jajpur district on Sunday.
Angered over the death, the locals ransacked the hospital and various important papers were set on fire.
The incident occurred on Sunday at Bari Community Health Centre in Jajpur district, about 110km from here. The minor girl, who was suffering from fever, was administered the injection by an Ayush doctor. Just five minutes after being administered with an antibiotic injection to bring down the fever, the child reportedly started vomiting and later relapsed.
SUBHASHISH MOHANTY
