7 die after drinking liquor in Howrah

Seven people from Ghusuri in West Bengal’s Howrah, who had consumed liquor, died prompting locals to ransack the outlet and beat up the owner before handing him over to the cops. It is not clear whether they had drunk hooch (which is illicit), or country liquor laced with harmful chemicals. Preliminary autopsy reports do not suggest any sort of alcohol poisoning, said cops, who have registered a case of “unnatural deaths”. The excise department said the liquor might have contained harmful chemicals and has sent the liquor samples for forensic examination. “We have not found any illicit material in the batch of liquor that was consumed,” said an official.