The death toll in the suspected hooch tragedy in Bihar's East Champaran district has risen to four after three more people died allegedly due to consumption of spurious liquor. An investigation is underway, and several arrests have been made.
Ironically, rival Tamil Nadu governments expend the most on social welfare schemes, especially targeting women and youth and children, but that money comes only by selling more liquor. There is always the specious plea, which has been peddled very many times in the past, that without licensed liquor, drinkers would go after hooch and there could be more hooch tragedies and hooch deaths. No one is convinced, but no one can dispute it either, comments N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Tamil Nadu Prohibition (Amendment) Act, 2024, which shall come into force on such date as notified by the government, aims to completely eradicate the menace of illicit liquor from the state.
The death toll in the East Champaran hooch tragedy has risen to nine, prompting arrests and a special investigation into the consumption of spurious liquor in the Turkauliya and Raghunathpur areas of Motihari.
Wednesday's Vikravandi by-election has become a referendum on the Stalin government, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Another key accused in the hooch tragedy, Rakesh Giri, who allegedly supplied methanol used in preparation of the spurious brew that killed over 130 people, was arrested on Thursday, police said. "Rakesh, who was absconding, has been arrested from Vadodara," said a police officer investigating the hooch tragedy. He, however, declined to divulge other details, saying the matter was under investigation.
In a fresh hooch tragedy in Karnataka, four people died and 15 others were hospitalised after drinking the brew at a marriage function in a village in Hassan district on Friday. With this, the toll in the series of hooch tragedies that has struck parts of Karnataka and neighbouring Tamil Nadu since Sunday climbed to 174. Soon after consuming the brew, 19 people developed complications and four of them died.
Eighteen more people lost their lives after allegedly consuming illicit liquor in dry Bihar's Siwan and Saran districts, taking the toll in the tragedy to 24, officials said on Thursday.
The mortal remains of 29 people who died till Thursday were handed over to their relatives and the bodies were either buried or cremated, Kallakurichi District Collector Prasanth M S said.
The tragedy had struck the tea gardens of the twin districts of Golaghat and Jorhat after a large number of their workers consumed the spurious liquor on Thursday night.
Post-mortems of 16 more suspected hooch victims were conducted here in the last two days, raising their number to 87, but authorities on Wednesday kept the official death toll in tragedy pegged at 35.
About 140 people out of 193 who were admitted to various government medical facilities after they consumed the spurious liquor on Tuesday night were currently stable, Kallakurichi district collector M S Prasanth said.
In a breakthrough into the worst-ever hooch tragedy in Mumbai that has so far claimed 102 lives and rendered over 40 people ill, police have tracked down and arrested one of the main suppliers of the killer brew in Delhi.
Nine more persons died on Tuesday in Karnataka, taking the toll there to 58, while eight more lost their lives in Krishnagiri, taking the toll there to 25. Of the 58 persons who have died in Karnataka, 19 were from Kolar.
Eyewitnesses said that the scenes outside the hospitals were heart rendering with family members mourning the loss of their near and dear ones. The police have assured of speedy action. In Kolar and Krishnagiri, the people came out in large numbers and staged a protest. While seeking a speedy investigation, they also demanded that compenation be awarded to those families who have lost their near and dear ones.
Vinod Chauhan alias Dagri, the key accused in the hooch tragedy that has claimed over 130 lives in Gujarat, was on Friday arrested along with one of his aides. The two were arrested near Vadodara, said a senior police official. According to the police, Chauhan had supplied 1100 litres of spurious liquor, spiked with Methanol, to the city in the first week of July. The hooch was delivered to different parts of the city and its consumption led to the death of over 130 people.
Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi has sought an action taken report from the state government over the twin hooch tragedy that claimed 21 lives, a government source said on Thursday.
The death toll in the hooch tragedy rose to 48 as 32 people died on Wednesday during treatment in various hospitals of Ahmedabad, the police said.
The NHRC has issued notices to Maharashtra Government and the Mumbai police commissioner over the hooch tragedy which has claimed over 100 lives so far.
The Patna high court has struck down the conviction of all 13 accused in the first major hooch tragedy that struck Bihar after the state went dry six years ago.
Sale and consumption of alcohol was completely banned in Bihar by the Nitish Kumar government in April, 2016.
In one of the worst hooch tragedies in West Bengal, 57 people, mostly labourers, rickshaw-pullers and hawkers, died and over hundred have been hospitalised in serious condition after consuming illicit liquor at Mograhat in South 24 Parganas district on Wednesday.
In one of the worst hooch tragedies in West Bengal, 57 people, mostly labourers, rickshaw-pullers and hawkers, died and over hundred have been hospitalised in serious condition after consuming illicit liquor at Mograhat in South 24 Parganas district on Wednesday.
The Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party unit on Monday expelled Rishi Sharma, the alleged kingpin in the hooch tragedy case, from the party and said he was not an active member.
More than 150 people are still under treatment in various hospital of the city, police said, adding that more people have been admitted to the hospitals overnight.
While Congress alleged that the ban on arrack by the erstwhile JD - S-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition was responsible for it, the JD-S demanded a probe by the CBI. Thirty five people lost their lives in Bangalore and Kolar on Sunday after drinking poisonous hooch. "I am charging B S Yeddyurappa (BJP leader), the BJP, JD-S.....you are directly responsible for this," Congress leader Janardhana Poojary said.
Former chief minister Tarun Gogoi demanded a CBI inquiry into the episode
A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court, seeking an independent probe by a special investigation team (SIT) into a recent hooch tragedy in Bihar, in which at least 30 people have lost their lives.
Odisha Excise Minister A U Singhdeo on Thursday resigned on moral grounds following the hooch tragedy in Cuttack and Khurda districts which left 30 dead and 65 others battling for lives in hospitals.
The tragedy took a political hue with CM Yogi Adityanath suggesting the involvement of SP in 'such mischievous acts'.
The toll in the hooch tragedy in Lucknow and Unnao districts on Tuesday climbed to 31 with 17 more people dying in various hospitals in Lucknow.
The toll in Mumbai's worst hooch tragedy rose to 102 on Monday with the death of five more victims who consumed spurious liquor in Malad area and another 46 are in hospitals with eight of them struggling to survive serious ill-effects of the killer brew.
A large number of labourers of two tea estates of Golaghat and Jorhat districts had fallen ill after drinking spurious liquor on Thursday night.
Thirty four people belonging to Kallakurichi district have died following consumption of 'methanol mixed arrack', Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Thursday.
A key accused in Malvani hooch tragedy, which claimed over a hundred lives, was arrested by Ahmedabad police.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who has expressed grave concern over the Gopalganj tragedy has said that culprits would be dealt under the stringent new liquor law.
In order to stop the production and sale of illicit liquor, Maharashtra government is considering a proposal to amend the existing law.
The death toll in the Aligarh hooch tragedy went up to 22 on Saturday, and 28 more people are still in critical condition, an official said in Aligarh.
Of the 21 people that died in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram and Chengalpattu districts earlier this week after consuming spurious liquor, 13 belonged to Ekkiyarkuppam at Marakkanam in Villupuram, which borders Puducherry.
With 13 more deaths, the toll in the hooch tragedy in several villages of Mubarakpur area of Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday climbed to 35 even as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav took serious note of the incident and suspended five excise department officials.
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