|
New Delhi: Locally brewed liquor apparently tainted with lethal chemicals has killed at least 59 people in southern India over the weekend.
State police chief Sri Kumar said bootleggers began selling the deadly brew on Saturday after police shut authorised liquor shops in parts of the Karnataka state because of voting for the state government.
Liquor stores and bars are routinely closed in India during elections to prevent politicians from handing out free alcohol in a bid to win votes.
Kumar said since Saturday, 59 people have died and 17 others were in hospital, said Kumar.
Twenty-seven deaths occurred in Bangalore and 19 died in the neighbouring Kolar district. Another 13 people died in a village just across the state border with Tamil Nadu state.
Relief
The Karnataka government has announced Rs10,000 (Dh870) as relief to the kin of the dead and also announced that it will bear the expenses for the treatment of those in hospital.
P.K.H. Tharakan, advisor to the Karnataka governor, visited Kolar along with senior police officials Monday and told reporters that the source of the killer brew and the people behind it will be traced soon.
In Bangalore, city police commissioner Neelam Achuta Rao said the police had definite clues about the people behind the tragedy and arrests would be made soon.
Five deaths were reported soon after many people consumed the spurious liquor in Devera Jeevana Halli area in Bangalore around 8.30pm local time on Sunday.
|
