Bihar hooch tragedy: Cop suspended for dereliction of duty

Patna, Nov 5 (IANS) After ten people died due to spurious liquor consumption in Bihar's Gopalganj, the SHO of Mohammadpur police station and a chowkidar have been suspended for failing to check the illegal trade, police said on Friday.

"We have suspended Shashi Ranjan, the SHO of Mohammadpur police station and a chowkidar for their callous attitudes, which led to a large number of deaths in the three villages under their jurisdiction. They have failed to check liquor trade in the area," district Superintendent of Police Anand Kumar said.

Earlier on Thursday, Dr Nawal Kishore Chaudhary, District Magistrate of Gopalganj confirmed that ten persons, belonging to Mohammadpur, Kushar and Tuhra Tola under Mohammadpur police station, died after consuming spurious liquor.

The locals of these three villages had consumed poisonous liquor on Tuesday evening and fell ill. Ten have died so far in the last three days while seven others were critical. Four of them have lost their eyesight. They are admitted to the Sadar hospital Gopalganj and hospitals in Motihari, Chaudhary said.

The deceased have been identified as Santosh Shah, Chotelal Shah, Mukesh Ram, Rambabu Yadav, Chunnu Pandey, Yogendra Ram, Mewalal Shah. Three others are yet to be identified.

The district administration was making announcements through loudspeakers and urging people to come forward if they had consumed liquor as the timely treatment could help save their lives.

Besides Gopalganj, eight deaths due to consumption of poisonous liquor in Bettiah has also been reported.