Toll in India alcohol tragedy hits 112
AHMADABAD, India - Opposition leaders accused police of abetting bootlegging in western India, saying they were partly responsible for the recent deaths from illegally brewed poisonous liquor. The death toll rose to 112 yesterday.
Doctors from across Gujarat state have been rushed to Ahmadabad to assist in the treatment of another 225 people who have been hospitalized, said an officer at the Police Control Room. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose his name to the media.
Schools and colleges were shut in Ahmadabad yesterday after the opposition called for their closure in protest.
Most of the victims, who drank the tainted brew Sunday, were slum-dwellers looking for a cheap means of intoxication.
Ahmadabad is the biggest city in Gujarat, where the sale of all liquor is banned. While the rich rely on liquor smuggled from neighboring states, the poor sneak into clandestinely run shops selling alcohol often spiked with pesticides and chemicals to increase its potency.
On Thursday, hundreds of angry residents protested in the streets, attacking public buses with sticks and hurling stones at police. They burned effigies of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Authorities have asked a retired judge to investigate the deaths and suspended six police officers for negligence of duty. Police have also arrested dozens of people, but activists accuse officers and politicians of taking bribes to turn a blind eye 