Police say at least six villagers have died after drinking tainted liquor in northern India.

Police officer Ajay Sahni says the deceased bought the liquor from a shop in in Barabanki district in Uttar Pradesh state on Monday night.

They started vomiting after drinking it and were rushed to a district hospital. Sahni said six people died and another five were being treated at a hospital.

Deaths from illegally brewed alcohol are common in India because the poor cannot afford licensed brands from government-run shops. Illicit liquor is cheap and often spiked to increase potency.

In February, 150 people, mostly tea plantation workers, died and about 200 were hospitalized after drinking tainted liquor laced with methyl alcohol in two separate incidents in Assam state in India's remote northeast.