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Twelve persons were killed and around 100 hospitalised on Monday after consuming illicit liquor on the outskirts of Lucknow.
Some of those admitted to the city's leading King George’s Medical University hospital were said to be critical, arousing apprehension of a heavier toll over the next 24 hours.
Taking serious note of the incident, the Uttar Pradesh government has taken punitive action against local police and excise officials for dereliction of duty in preventing sale of hooch. Alarmed by the incident, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav convened an emergency meeting of top officials, directing them to launch a state-wide drive against hooch, which is known to be a mass killer in many rural pockets of the country’s most populous state.
“We have suspended the assistant excise commissioner, district excise officer, the local excise inspector, besides the circle deputy superintendent police, the station house officer and four other cops for failure to keep a tab on the brewing and open sale of illicit liquor,” Uttar Pradesh’s Principal Home Secretary Debashish Panda told Rediff.com. “We have a reason to believe that such illegal activity could not be carried on without the active connivance of these concerned officials,” he added.
Lucknow Senior Superintendent of Police Yashashvi Yadav said, “We have arrested a man identified as Jugnu Pasi, who is believed to be the kingpin of the racket while a manhunt has been launched to nab his accomplices.”
Jugnu’s sister, who is understood to be working with him, is also hospitalised on account of consuming the same liquor. Criminal cases have been registered against five persons including the brother-sister duo. Two vehicles loaded with bottles and cans of the killer hooch have also been confiscated from Dattaki Khera village where the illicit distillery was being run, police said.
“We are taking every possible step to save the lives of those whose life was under threat after consumption of the killer hooch,” the SSP maintained.
Shocked family members of the victims have thronged the trauma centre of the King George's Medical University.
"My 23-year old son Nirmal was a habitual drinker and last night he consumed a bit more than usual because the liquor was being sold cheaper. When he came home, he complained of pain, which became unbearable. Somehow we managed to reach this medical college in the early hours of the morning, but he could not survive," said a wailing 55- year-old Ramwati.
Similar stories were heard from other households in the neighbourhood. A sobbing 38-year-old Reshma’s husband was struggling for survival in the trauma centre. She borrowed money to hire a horsecart on which she ferried her husband to the hospital. "After trying out local herbal remedies through the night, I managed to bring my husband here with great difficulty,” she said.