Ujjain hooch tragedy: Doctors say most people are dead within 15 minutes.
Bhopal:
Fourteen people, mostly workers, have died in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, after consuming what was suspected of being illicit alcohol. The police arrested 10 people while the authorities suspended four policemen including a police station in charge, a deputy inspector and two gendarmes.
“Eleven people, mostly beggars and poor laborers, have died after drinking poisonous liquid since Wednesday in areas of three police stations – Kharakuwa, Jeevajiganj and Mahakal,” a senior police official said. Ujjain Rupesh Dwivedi, quoted by India’s Press Trust news agency.
“We are investigating the liquid they consumed and who sold it. We are carrying out raids,” he said.
“Eleven people were taken to a local hospital in critical condition. None of them survived more than 15 minutes after being brought in,” Ujjain chief medical officer Mahaveer Khandelwal said. the PTI.
“It could be alcohol, alcohol or any other chemical. It will be known when the report on the viscera is released,” he added.
Preliminary postmortem reports indicate that death appears to have occurred due to the consumption of denatured alcohol. At least six of them had drunk an intoxicating substance called potali (cheap alcohol), police said.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced an investigation by senior Interior Ministry official Rajesh Rajora.
He would be assisted by Additional Director General SK Jha and Sushant Saxena, Deputy Inspector General of Ratlam Range.
The main defendant in the case, Younis, was arrested while taking a bus from Indore to Agra.
Ujjain collector Ashish Singh said an order has been issued to crack down on people selling toxic substances and charge them under strict National Security Law or the NSA.
