Ahmedabad: The death toll in Gujarat’s Botad district, allegedly after consuming spurious liquor, has risen to 33. A senior police officer gave this information on Tuesday.
Police said that preliminary investigation has revealed that some small liquor smugglers from different villages of Botad had made spurious liquor by mixing water with ‘methyl alcohol’ (methanol), which is highly toxic. They used to sell it to the villagers at a price of Rs 20 a ‘pouch’. An FIR has been registered in the matter. A police officer attached to the state surveillance cell in Gandhinagar said, “A total of 33 people have died so far after consuming spurious liquor. 24 people have died in Botad and nine in neighboring Ahmedabad.
Earlier in the afternoon, Gujarat Director General of Police Ashish Bhatia told reporters in Gandhinagar that three FIRs have been registered against 14 people under sections 302, 328, and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code and most of them are in custody. have been taken. The matter came to light on Monday morning when some people living in Rozid village of Botad and other nearby villages were admitted to government hospitals in the Barwala area and Botad towns after their condition deteriorated.
Bhatia had told that so far 28 people have died due to drinking spurious liquor. Of them, 22 were residents of different villages in Botad district, while six were residents of three villages in neighboring Ahmedabad district. Apart from these, more than 45 people are being treated in hospitals in Bhavnagar, Botad, and Ahmedabad. Bhatia said, “Forensic analysis revealed that the victims had consumed ‘methyl alcohol’.
We have registered a case against 14 people on charges of murder and other offenses and most of the accused have been taken into custody.” Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Ahmedabad Crime Branch are also involved in the investigation.
Meanwhile, the state government in a press release said that the Gujarat Home Department has constituted a three-member committee under the chairmanship of senior Indian Police Service officer Subhash Trivedi to investigate the matter in detail. The committee will submit its report in three days. The other two members of the committee are the Director of Prohibition and Excise, M.A. Gandhi and Gujarat Forensic Science Laboratory director HP Sanghvi. Bhatia said that till now the police investigation has revealed that Jayesh alias Raju had stolen 600 liters of ‘methyl alcohol’ from a godown in Ahmedabad. Raju used to work as a manager in that warehouse.
He had sold it on July 25 to Sanjay, a relative of Botad, for Rs 40,000. “Knowing that it is an industrial solvent, Sanjay sold it to drug smugglers from different villages of Botad. These drug smugglers mixed this chemical in water and sold it to the people as country liquor. This resulted in the death of 28 people.”
At the same time, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was on a tour of Gujarat, had on Monday alleged that the prohibition is in force in the state, yet illegal liquor is being sold. Assembly elections are due in the state later this year. He alleged that those selling illicit liquor were enjoying political patronage and demanded a probe into the money earned from the sale of liquor. Kejriwal on Tuesday said he would visit a hospital in Bhavnagar where some people who fell ill after consuming spurious liquor were admitted.
