The death toll went up to 30 on Tuesday as several people in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad and Botad districts fell ill after allegedly consuming spurious liquor on Sunday, officials said. As many as 51 people are still under treatment in hospitals, a release from the state government said, adding that the deaths were caused by “chemical poisoning”.
State Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi has announced a three-member committee, headed by IGP Subhash Trivedi, to probe into the matter and submit a detailed report in three days. Another five cases recorded as “accidental deaths” in Ahmedabad’s Dhandhuka in the same period are under investigation, the statement added.
Fifty-one people have been admitted to Bhavnagar and Ahmedabad civil hospitals in the wake of the incident. Of the total deaths confirmed to be by food poisoning, six are in Ahmedabad and 22 in Botad. The cause of the remaining two deaths is yet to be ascertained.
Analysis of the substance consumed by the victims has revealed the presence of methyl alcohol. “In the investigation so far, the deaths appear to have been caused by consumption of the poisonous chemical spiked liquid,” the government release said.
Six persons, including the prime accused, have been arrested so far and two FIRs registered, one each in Barwala and Ranpur police stations of Botad district. In the FIR registered at Barwala, 14 persons were booked under different sections of the Gujarat Prohibition Act. In the second FIR, registered in Ranpur police station, 11 were booked under the same sctions.
