Motihari (Bihar):The state authorities on Wednesday sent a show-cause notice to seven officials of the excise department against the backdrop of the Hooch tragedy case in Bihar's Champaran. The notices, issued by Motihari's District Magistrate Saurabh Jorwal, specify that the authorities will initiate adequate action, including possible suspension, if the responses to the show cause served are not satisfactory.
The officials who received the notice include Ekramul Haque, Soni Saroj, Abhishek Anand, Manish Sarraf, Priyanka Kumari, Rajkumar, and Vikesh Kumar Rai. The development comes 5 days after 31 people lost their lives after consumption of spurious liquor in Bihar's Champaran, even as some sources claim the death toll to have unofficially reached the 40 mark. Though no death has been reported in the past 24 hours because of the incident, many are still admitted at the hospital receiving treatment while 8 of these patients have lost eyesight.
The district police had earlier suspended SHOs of Turkauliya, Harsiddhi, Sugauli and Paharpur police stations and Raghunathpur outpost on the charge of dereliction of duties, East Champaran SP Kantesh Kumar Mishra said. Besides, disciplinary actions were taken against 11 police personnel, including nine chowkidars, on Sunday, he said, adding that the district police have so far registered five cases and the investigation into the hooch tragedy is underway.
Also read:Bihar hooch death toll reaches 40, at least a dozen more critical