Eight die in suspected hooch tragedy in Bihar, probe initiated

Eight people died on Thursday morning and several others fell ill after consuming suspected spurious liquor in West Champaran district of dry Bihar.

Locals claimed that the victims, all residents of Telhua village, had consumed liquor in Chamartoli area on Wednesday evening, but the police did not quite confirm the same as yet.

A senior police officer, however, said all eight deceased have been identified.

Talking to reporters, Superintendent of Police Upendra Nath Verma said, "It is a case of unnatural death and more information will be available only after a preliminary investigation." Senior officials of the district administration and the police are camping in the village to find out details in the case, he added.

A villager, on the condition of anonymity, said, “After consuming liquor, people started complaining of uneasiness and were taken to a nearby hospital. All eight of them died this morning. There are others currently undergoing treatment in various local hospitals.” Last month, in a similar incident, eight people died in Muzaffarpur.

The Nitish Kumar government had on April 5, 2016 banned the manufacture, trade, storage, transportation, sale and consumption of liquor in the state.

Kumar had said that "the ban on alcohol has been imposed in the interest of society".