Overview
- Two more people died on Friday, taking the toll to five, with at least seven others under treatment at Saran’s Sadar Hospital after alleged consumption of spurious liquor.
- Deaths have been reported since March 11 from Panapur and Mashrakh, with victims identified by officials as Santosh Mahto, Suken Nutt, Dharmendra Rai, Raghuvar Mahto and Pankaj Singh.
- One of the deceased had been arrested earlier on a charge of possessing country-made liquor, according to the district administration.
- Bodies have been sent for post-mortem, viscera samples preserved for toxicology, and some families cremated relatives without notifying police, complicating verification.
- Police said they raided about 160 locations, arrested 11 suspects and seized or destroyed roughly 1,650 litres of country-made liquor, as the SIT begins its probe under the state’s 2016 prohibition law and after a recent Patna High Court reprimand on enforcement.