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At least 25 Bihar police personnel have been suspended in connection with the suspected hooch tragedy in Gopalganj district which has claimed the lives of 17 people.
15 personnel of the Town police station and 10 from the Nargav police station in Gopalganj have been suspended for dereliction of duty.
"The 15 policemen, including the Officer In-charge of Town police station under which the tragedy took place in Khajurbanni locality, were suspended on charge of dereliction of duty," Superintendent of Police Raviranjan Kumar said.
The tragedy was the first major incident after Bihar was declared a total dry state in April this year.
Santosh Kumar has been made the new OC of the police station, the SP who ordered suspension of the errant policemen, said.
Meanwhile, with the death of one more victim at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) yesterday, the toll has climbed to 17, District Magistrate Rahul Kumar said.
Four others are still admitted in PMCH, Principal of PMCH S N Sinha said on Friday.
Asked about media reports suggesting that all the four have lost their vision in the tragedy, Sinha said eye surgeons have been directed to examine their eyes.
The DM said that viscera and blood samples of the deceased were handed over to a Muzaffarpur Forensic Science Laboratory team on Thursday evening.
With post-mortem report remaining inconclusive, all eyes are now set on the FSL report to unravel whether the Gopalganj tragedy was linked to consumption of spurious liquor or not.
One more person has been arrested in connection with Gopalganj incident taking the total number of those arrested to seven, the DM said.
The SP said that seven more accused are at large and hectic search was on for them.
Principal Secretary of Excise and Prohibition K K Pathak is visiting Gopalganj today in connection with the incident.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who has expressed grave concern over the Gopalganj tragedy has said that culprits would be dealt under the stringent new liquor law.
Image: Policemen recoverd poisonous liquor in a field at Harkhua Khajurbari Village in Gopalganj district of Bihar on Wednesday. Photograph: PTI
Additional Inputs: PTI Photo