Homemade liquor kills 43 in India
AHMADABAD, India - Tainted home-brewed liquor that poor workers living in slums drank over the weekend has left at least 43 dead in western India, police said yesterday.
Another 23 were battling for their lives in three hospitals in Gujarat state’s main city, Ahmadabad, said S.S. Khandwawala, the director-general of state police.
Deaths from drinking illegally brewed alcohol are common in India, where few people can afford licensed liquor. Known locally as desi daru, illicit liquor is often spiked with pesticides or chemicals to increase its potency.
In the latest scourge, most deaths occurred in hospitals where the victims were brought after they drank the liquor on Sunday night, Khandwawala said.
Some were found on the streets of Ahmadabad, said police commissioner S.K. Saikia.
Authorities asked a retired judge to investigate the deaths and suspended six police officers for negligence of duty, said state Home Minister Amit Shah.
In Gujarat, the problem is worse because the state law prohibits the sale of all liquor. Gujarat is the home state of India’s independence leader, Mohandas Gandhi, who was a strong advocate of prohibition.
Most of the victims lived in the Majur Gam and Odhav slums of Ahmadabad. 