Death toll rises to 9 in Gujarat's spurious liqour case
The death toll from the consumption of spurious liquor in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district rose to nine on August 22, after another victim died during treatment, officials said. Three of the 17 people still hospitalised remain in critical condition.
The tragedy came to light after three friends consumed the liquor in Vartej on the night of August 16 and fell seriously ill. One of them, Upendrasinh Gohil, died, and tests on his blood sample later detected methanol, a highly toxic substance.
More people were subsequently admitted to hospitals with severe complications. According to the district administration, 17 patients have since been discharged, while six others have sought medical consultation.
The latest victim, Hardik Kilji, died between Friday night and Saturday morning. The 17 patients still receiving treatment are being cared for at the civil hospital and six private hospitals in Bhavnagar.
A Forensic Science Laboratory report found that the liquor contained 38.59 per cent methanol and 0.94 per cent ethanol. Police said the spurious liquor had been bottled and sealed using the label of a popular Indian-made foreign liquor brand.
The alleged production operation was traced to the residence of Gautam Solanki in Vartej. According to the FIR registered at Vartej police station on August 19, Solanki told investigators that he was introduced to a man named Raees through a mutual acquaintance. Raees and his assistant Zuber, both from Ujjain, allegedly procured raw materials from Ahmedabad and prepared the liquor at Solanki’s house.
The group allegedly brought Narendra Yadav, also from Madhya Pradesh, into the operation. Police later said Yadav died after consuming the liquor he had allegedly helped prepare.
The liquor was then packed in bottles and supplied to bootleggers for distribution, investigators said. Police have so far arrested 13 of the 21 people named in the FIR. A local court on Thursday remanded the accused in police custody for 10 days.
The investigation has been transferred to the Gujarat Police’s State Monitoring Cell (SMC), which handles cases involving illicit liquor and gambling operations across the state.
SMC teams have been sent to Madhya Pradesh and Delhi to trace the suspected source of the raw materials. Officials are also investigating the origin of the bottle-sealing equipment and identifying those who supplied it.
Gujarat is a dry state, where the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol are prohibited. Police have booked the accused under provisions relating to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, adulteration and poisoning under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prohibition Act.
(with inputs from PTI)
