36 people dead after consuming spurious liquor in UP, Uttarakhand; CM Yogi orders probe

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered a probe into the spurious liquor case which has accounted for the lives of over twenty people in the state. The death toll in spurious liquor case in Saharanpur and Kushinagar district rose to twenty six with two more deaths, prompting authorities to take action against nine officials.

Illegal liquor (Representative Image)

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered a probe into the spurious liquor case which has accounted for the lives of over twenty people in the state. The death toll over consuming spurious liquor in Uttar Pradesh' Saharanpur and Kushinagar district and Uttarakhand's Roorkee rose to thirty six with six more deaths on Friday, prompting authorities to take stringent action against ten officials. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday ordered a 15-day joint drive by excise and police officials against those involved in the spurious liquor trade. The chief minister also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of each of those who died after consuming spurious liquor and help of Rs 50,000 each for those undergoing treatment in hospitals, an official release issued here said. Authorities suspended the excise inspector, two head constables and two constables of the department. Besides, SP Kushinagar has sent four cops including SHO Tarya Sujan police station to police line. Ramvriksha, 32, Bedupar village under Tarya Sujan police station died on Wednesday around 12.30 in the night and Ramnath, 45, of the same village died Thursday morning. On Tuesday night Chanchal Chauhan, 45, died after consuming the intoxicant, while Deba Nishad (55), Heera Lal Nishad (33) and Awadh Kishore Nishad had died immediately after consuming the drink on Monday. "In the post-mortem report the cause behind the death of two people was not clear so the viscera sample has been sent to Varanasi for chemical test to ascertain te cause of death. The post-mortem report of other bodies is awaited. SHO Tarya Sujan, Vinay Pathk along with inspector and two constables of the area have been called at police lines, SP Kushinagar Rajiv Narayan Mishra said. DM Anil Kumar Singh had sent report to government. "After my report to the government, excise inspector Hriday Narayan Pandey and two head constables and two constables of excise department have been suspended, the DM said. As per locals there was a fair in the village on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya and a lot of people had consumed the spurious liquor.