MP Liquor Deaths: Congress Claims Hooch Tragedy, Admin Awaits Viscera Test

Bhopal: Congress on Saturday alleged that several people died due to consumption of spurious liquor in a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas district.

The local administration however denied the allegation saying that the deaths of people, reported in the village of Chandana, were due to different reasons, not linked to spurious liquor.

State Congress president Jitu Patwari and senior Congress leader Arun Yadav who visited the family of a deceased in the village of Chandana on Saturday claimed that several people died in the village after consuming spurious liquor.

“A liquor trader has been absconding since the tragedy took place”, Mr. Yadav said.

In-charge Dewas district collector Dalip Singh however denied the allegation, saying that a probe by the excise department has ruled out any toxicity in the liquor sold in the area.

“Samples of the liquor with particular batch numbers of liquor sold in the local outlets were collected by the excise department. Tests of the liquor with the particular batch number have been found to be not spurious”, he said.

Mr. Singh said that deaths of ten people were reported from the village between October one to October 15.

The local sub-divisional magistrate and the tehsildar visited the village for an on-the-spot enquiry.

It has been found that deaths of some people in the village were due to natural causes, he said.

Bodies of two other deceased were brought to the hospital for postmortem.

Viscera of the two deceased were sent for forensic tests.

The cause of their deaths could be ascertained in the viscera reports, he said.

The local excise commissioner Deepak Saxena denied sale of spurious liquor in the area.

He said that this was confirmed in the tests of the particular batch number of liquor sold in the local outlets.

Mr. Saxena said that some people died due to excessive alcohol drinking leading to their multiple organ failures.