Villagers claim it was laced with intoxicating stuff

Two persons died while two others were taken ill after taking homoeopathy medicine allegedly laced with some intoxicating substance in Bihar’s Begusarai district on Tuesday, the police said

Sadar Sub-Divisional Police Officer Rajan Sinha said that the deceased have been identified as Murari Ram (35) and Bahadur Shah (40), both residents of Kharidi village of the district.

The other two have been admitted to a private hospital in Begusarai, he said, adding that both are stated to be out of danger.

The SDPO said nothing can be said about the cause of the death as the police are investigating the matter.

Dr. Arun Kumar, who conducted the post-mortem, said that prima facie it did not seem to be the case of death by consuming spurious liquor. He added that it appeared to be the case of poisoning may be caused by some kind of homoeopathy medicine which was laced with some other material.

The viscera has been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Patna, as the cause of death is not clear, he said.

Local villagers alleged that the two persons died after taking homoeopathy drug allegedly laced with intoxicating material from a clinic run by a homoeopathy practitioner.

The villagers claimed that people in large number visit the homoeopathy practitioner, who allegedly would add some intoxicating material with the medicine in view of the prohibition enforced since April 2016 in the State.

Accused absconding

The police raided the clinic of the homoeopathy practitioner, who is absconding, the SDPO said, and seized homoeopathy medicines.

Angry villagers blocked the Matihani-Begusarai main road for several hours demanding payment of ₹4 lakh to each of the deceased’s family as compensation.

The blockade was lifted after the Matihani Block Development Officer Bhuvanesh Mishra and Circle Officer Upendra Kumar assured to look into their demands.