21 die in Bihar hooch tragedy; triggers political slugfest

TIL Desk/National/Patna/ In yet another suspected hooch tragedy in dry Bihar, 21 deaths were reported from Saran district on Wednesday, triggering a slugfest in the state assembly where the ruling ‘Mahagathbandhan’ led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party traded charges.

According to Sunil Kumar, the state’s minister for prohibition, the deaths have been reported from Mashrak and Isuapur police station areas of Saran. “The number of deaths in the suspected hooch tragedy at Saran, so far, is 21,” he told. Sale and consumption of alcohol was completely banned in Bihar by the Nitish Kumar government in April, 2016.

Dr Sagar Dulal Sinha, the Civil Surgeon-cum-Medical Officer In-charge of Saran, said, “Most of them were declared dead at a hospital in Chhapra, the district headquarters. Some, who had been ill since Tuesday morning, died while undergoing treatment”. Since it is suspected that all the deceased had consumed some intoxicant, after the post-mortem the viscera will be sent to a forensic laboratory at Muzaffarpur for examination, Sinha said.