Death toll from tainted bootleg liquor rises to 92 in India's Bihar

NEW DELHI, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- This month has seen about 90 people killed and many others hospitalized after they consumed tainted bootleg liquor in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, according to local media reports.

The deaths highlighted the sale of spurious liquor in the state, where the sale and consumption of liquor are strictly prohibited under law.

The deaths were initially reported from Saran district, about 60 km northwest of Patna, the capital city of Bihar. According to officials, the victims had purchased the hooch discreetly from some unauthorized sellers who were making the brew locally. Following the consumption of the drink, they complained of dizziness, vomiting and blurred vision.

Though they were immediately removed to the hospitals, a majority of them died and over two dozen were reported to have lost their eyesight. Similar reports were received from the areas adjacent to the district.

According to India's state-run broadcaster All India Radio (AIR), the death toll in the tragedy has risen to 92.

"Maximum 85 deaths have been reported from Saran district. Twenty-nine people have also lost their eyesight," the broadcaster reported. "The casualties are likely to go up further as 21 people are undergoing treatment at various hospitals and eight of them are in critical condition."

The sale and consumption of liquor were prohibited in Bihar state in 2016.

"In the past six years, more than 1,000 people have died in Bihar due to spurious liquor and 600,000 have gone to jail," local media cited Sushil Kumar Modi, an opposition party leader and parliamentarian from Bihar, as saying.

Deaths due to the consumption of spurious liquor are common in India. The hooch is an inferior kind of liquor illegally brewed in small unregulated shanties and does not attract excise tax.

Officials say the cheap quality drink is sometimes made after mixing different chemicals with water, which is then consumed by people.

Illicit liquor has also become a hugely profitable industry across India, where bootleggers sell enormous quantities of their product to the poor at a cheap rate.

Alcohol is completely banned in the four Indian states of Gujarat, Manipur, Nagaland and Bihar. It is also partially banned in a few other states.

Experts say the ban often results in soaring prices of branded liquor and people, especially the poor in villages, look for alternate ways to procure it and end up buying the tainted quality.

In July this year, 42 people were killed after consuming toxic liquor in Gujarat.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, India recorded 782 deaths last year due to the consumption of spurious liquor.

In 2020 at least 120 people were killed after drinking tainted liquor in Punjab.