Three die, four take ill after drinking hooch in Lucknow

india

Updated: May 30, 2019 22:49 IST

Three persons died and four others were taken ill after consuming adulterated liquor in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur district late on Wednesday, a day after 22 people lost their lives in a similar incident in the adjoining Barabanki district.

According to officials, the four survivors were shifted to King George’s Medical University in Lucknow for treatment. Their condition was stated to be stable. The dead and the survivors had consumed country liquor purchased from an illicit liquor manufacturer, Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been arrested, said LR Kumar, SP, Sitapur.

The deaths were reported from villages under Mahmoodabad police station area in Sitapur. Station house officer Gopal Narain, Paintipur police outpost incharge Udaibeer Yadav and two constables were suspended after the incident, the SP said.

“Family members of the deceased informed that the liquor was purchased on Sunday evening and the victims died of poisoning on Tuesday and Wednesday. We have sent the bodies for postmortem. The report is awaited,” the police officer added. The victims were identified as Vinod Kumar (32), Sumeri Lal (40), and Vijay (35).

According to police, the liquor manufacturer and one of his aides were taken into custody, and a first information report was registered. Locals said all the victims had purchased the liquor from Kanahiya at a weekly market in Paintipur.

“We are probing all factors linked to production and sale of adulterated liquor. If it was being sold in or near the weekly market, it would amount to gross negligence on the part of local police outpost incharge,” said the SP.

District magistrate Akhilesh Tiwari also ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter.

Around 100 people had died in another hooch tragedy in two adjoining districts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in February this year.