PATNA: Five people died and three others were taken ill after consuming illicit liquor in Bihar’s southern Rohtas district on Saturday, exposing the production and sale of liquor in the state despite prohibition and prompting the suspension of 12 policemen.
While two men died hours after having consumed the illicit brew at Danwar village under Kachhawa police station, three others died during treatment at Narayan Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) near Dehri on Sone, said police.
A pall of gloom fell on the village as the deaths happened a day after the four-day festival of Chhath, and the bereaved families blamed the local administration and police for continually ignoring the wide availability of country-made liquor in the area despite prohibition.
Hundreds of angry villagers raised slogans against police as they demonstrated on the Piro-Nasariganj state highway, placing the bodies on the road and blocking traffic. The brother of one of the dead men and the widow of another alleged that illegal manufacturing and trade of country-made liquor had been continuing in the area under the patronage of police.
The entire staff of Kachhawa police station was placed under suspension by Mohammad Rahman, DIG, Shahabad range, after it was known that the five deaths occurred by consumption of illicit liquor. The suspended cops included five officials.
“A probe team has been formed to find out from where and how the illicit liquor came. Stern action will be taken against officials if it is found that they facilitated the illegal liquor trade as alleged by the protesters,” said Rohtas district magistrate Animesh Parashar, who visited Danwar village along with SP Manavjeet Singh Dhilon and persuaded the protesters to end the road blockade.
Prohibition was enforced in Bihar by the Nitish Kumar-led government in April 2016 through a stringent anti-liquor law that banned manufacturing, sale and consumption of liquor. Despite efforts by police and excise officials, reports of liquor smuggling and clandestine consumption abound. Sixteen people had died in a similar hooch tragedy in Gopalganj district in August 2016.
At least 71,000 people have been jailed in Bihar since April 2016 for consumption of alcohol, possessing or smuggling it, and about 10 lakh litres of liquor have been seized by police and destroyed since then.
Bihar minister Jai Kumar Singh, who is the local MLA, described the hooch deaths were an “isolated incident” and claimed that prohibition was a success in the state and benefited millions of people in many ways.
“The village where the deaths took place had enthusiastically participated in the state government’s prohibition campaign. This incident seems to be the result of some outside elements active in the area,” said Singh, the minister for industries, science and technology. Excise and prohibition minister Brijendra Prasad Yadav was unavailable for comment.
The Opposition RJD and Congress slammed Bihar’s NDA government for the “travesty of prohibition”. RJD spokesperson and MLA Shakti Singh Yadav said: “These deaths prove that the prohibition regime has failed. It has only enriched illegal traders and government officials”.