Death toll in Siwan hooch tragedy mounts to ten; 16 arrested so far

An official said that three more people succumbed at the Siwan Sadar Hospital taking the toll to 10.

Siwan: The death toll in the hooch tragedy in Bihar's Siwan has mounted to 10 with three more people reported dead in the incident, officials said on Wednesday. So far 16 people have been arrested in this case. The incident was reported from Bala Village in Bihar's Siwan district where several people complained of pain in the stomach on Sunday night after allegedly consuming spurious liquor.

They were immediately rushed to the Siwan Sadar Hospital, where seven of them died on Monday. An official on Wednesday said that the death toll in the incident has mounted to 10 with three more people succumbing at the hospital. The deceased have been identified as Janak Dev Bean (45), Surendra Prasad (50), Raju Manjhi (35), Rajesh Prasad (32), Dhurendra Manjhi (35), Jitendra Manjhi, Lachhan Dev Ram (55), Dulam Rawat (40), Naresh Rawat and Sudarshan Mahato.

The administration has however confirmed the death of only five people in the incident so far. Police have confirmed that the deaths were caused due to consuming spurious liquor made from spirit. On Monday, ADG Jitendra Singh Gangwar said that the main accused Sandeep Chauhan had ordered spirit from an ethanol company in Kolkata in the name of sanitizer.

It was given to a person named Mantu, who made wine from this spirit leading to the deaths. The incident comes a month after 75 people died in another hooch tragedy in Chhapra. The National Human Rights team had visited the district to investigate the matter. Notably, the sale and consumption of alcohol is banned in Bihar by the Nitish Kumar-led government since April 2016.