Poisonous hooch prima facie cause of Nawada deaths: IG

PATNA: IG (prohibition) Amrit Raj on Saturday admitted that the deaths in Nawada district since Holi prima facie seem to be the result of poisonous hooch consumption. Nawada DM Yash Pal Meena and SP Dhurat Saayli Savlaram had so far been been denying hooch deaths in the district.
Altogether 16 persons have died of suspected hooch poisoning in the district since Holi till Friday night.However, the official toll was 14 with almost half of them being termed as deaths due to different reasons, including illness. The deceased belonged to Gondapur, Kharidi Bigha, Siswan and New area under Town police station of Nawada.
Raj, who is heading the special team constituted on the order of CM Nitish Kumar on Friday to probe into the causes of recent deaths in Nawada, told TOI over the phone that out of the 14 deaths, seven prima facie seemed to be the result of poisonous hooch consumption. “In rest of the cases, their family members have not said anything about liquor consumption. But we will investigated. Seven separate FIRs have been lodged till now with the Town police station in connection with the deaths,” he said.
When asked about fixing responsibilities, Raj said a detailed report would be submitted to senior authorities after which a decision would be taken regarding action against erring police officers.
The IG said some viscera in case of suspected deaths preserved after postmortem have already been sent for forensic analysis while some more would be sent soon after the court order. “Samples of liquor from the villages have also been collected after raids and they would be also sent for forensic analysis to know if they were poisonous,” he said.
He said on his directions, a separate special investigation team has been formed by the DM and SP to probe the cases registered in connection with the deaths. “Another SIT is already looking into the overall matter,” he added.
Meanwhile, Nawada civil surgeon Dr Ashok Kumar Mohan said altogether seven persons were admitted at the district sadar hospital after suspected poisonous hooch consumption. “Of the seven, one died, three were referred to higher centres, including PMCH, DMCH and VIMS Pawapuri and three were discharged after treatment,” he said, adding they had complaints of blurred vision, chest and abdomen pain with breathlessness.