Bilaspur: The authorities on Saturday launched a probe after at least seven persons died in a village in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district in past four days, with opposition Congress linking spurious liquor to the loss of lives. The sarpanch (village head) said nine persons died during this period, claiming that they were heavily dependent on liquor and used to consume country-made alcohol illegally sold in the area.
After learning about the deaths in Lofandi village under the jurisdiction of Koni police station, a team of administration and police officials visited the area, an official statement said. The villagers told the police some locals had died in the last 4-5 days, while a few others were hospitalised after taking ill, it said.
According to the release, Devkumar Patel (45) and Shatrughan Dewangan (40) died in the village on February 5. The Koni police registered a case concerning Patel’s death, with his son attributing it to snakebite. Five more villagers – Ramuram Sunhale (59), Komal Prasad Lahare (56), Kanhaiya Lal Patel (60), Baldev Patel (52) and Kunnu Devangan (35) – died on February 7-8. Baldev died at a private hospital and the death certificate mentions cardio and respiratory as the cause, it said.
When the administration and police officials reached the village, the residents had already performed the final rites of all the deceased except Sunhale without informing the authorities. Sunhale’s body was sent to the Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences (CIMS) Bilaspur for post-mortem, the official release said.
“According to the preliminary PM report, no specific cause of death could be ascertained. Confirmation on the cause of death can be established after the arrival of viscera, histopathology and blood analysis reports,” it said.
Villagers said a marriage ceremony was held between February 3 and 6 at the house of a local wherein people joined for a community feast. They also said some residents had consumed fish caught from a nearby river on February 6, it said.
Those who died had complained of pain in the abdomen, vomiting and dizziness. A few of them were reported to be already ill, the statement added. The Health and Food Safety departments have set up a special health camp in the village to screen the ailing residents and a door-to-door survey is also being conducted, the release said.
Sarpanch Ramadhar Sunhale told PTI that the deaths had nothing to do with the feast, stressing that all those individuals were heavy drinkers. Ramadhar is the younger brother of the deceased Ramuram Sunhale. “Nine people have died in the village in the last 3-4 days. They all were addicted to liquor and used to consume country-made liquor from wherever they got,” he said.
“My brother used to consume alcohol regularly and his food intake was very low. He also used to remain ill due to liquor consumption,” he claimed. Ramadhar termed the loss of lives very unfortunate and said the cause of his brother’s death would be known after the arrival of the post-mortem report.
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress has claimed that eight villagers died in Lofandi after consuming spurious liquor and blamed the ruling BJP for the deaths.
“Eight people died in Lofandi and some others fell ill after consuming illegal spurious alcohol. Of the ailing persons, four are said to be critical. Vishnu Deo Sai government and BJP are responsible for these deaths,” said Sushil Anand Shukla, state Congress’ head of communication wing.
