PATNA, Dec 14: Over 20 people died after consuming spurious liquor in Chhapra
in Saran district of Bihar on Wednesday. The toll is likely to go up, police
said.
The victims had consumed the illicit liquor at a joint late on Tuesday and after reaching
home complained of nausea, stomach pain, breathlessness and blury vision.
After the liquor deaths started running up on Wednesday morning, villagers
held protests and blocked the Masrakh Hanuman Chowk on the highway raising slogans
against the district administration.
The Opposition leaders in the Assembly attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's
Government over the rising incidence of hooch deaths in the State. The opposition
BJP MLAs blamed a "nexus" between the police and illicit liquor traders for
the deaths. The Opposition MLAs later held a demonstration outside the Assembly
building.
The Chief Minister lost his cool and animatedly shouted back that they were
also a party to the prohibition. He blamed the BJP for the sale of spurious
liquor in the State and also called them drunkards.
Bihar is under prohibition. Sale and consumption of alcohol was banned in the
State in April 2016.
Some of the people who have lost their lives in the hooch tragedy have been
identified as: Vijendra Rai, Harendra Ram, Ramji Saha, Amit Ranjan, Sanjay Singh,
Kunal Singh, Ajay Giri, Mukesh Sharma, Bharat Ram, Jaydev Singh, Manoj Ram,
Mangal Rai, Nasir Hussain, Ramesh Ram, Chandra Ram, Vikki Mahto, Lallan Ram,
Govind Rai, Premchand Shah and Dinesh Thakur.
The police said that the cause of the deaths would be ascertained only after
the post-mortem examination.
