By IANS,
Diamond Harbour (West Bengal: Twenty-three people died and at least 90 people were hospitalised Wednesday after they consumed spurious liquor in a West Bengal village in this sub-division, officials said.
Four persons have been arrested for supplying spurious liquor at Sangrampur village in Magraha -1 block of the South 24-Parganas district. Magrahat is 52 km from state capital Kolkata.
“Twenty-three people have died so far,” District Magistrate N.S. Nigam told IANS by phone.
He said 112 people had been admitted to various hospitals after they fell ill in the early hours Wednesday.
“Now 89 are in hospital and quite a few of them are serious”, said the DM.
Those who took ill have been admitted to the Diamond Harbour Hospital, health centres and nursing homes in the city.
The mishap occurred after the villagers drank country liquor Tuesday night at a den near Sangrampur railway station.
“From around 2 a.m. Wednesday, people started vomiting, had loose motions and complained of serious stomach pain. A lot of people are still there in hospital. The toll will go up massively,” said a Sangrampur resident.
Angry locals demolished the liquor den Wednesday morning. Senior district police officers are camping in the area. A medical team has been rushed to the area.
In Kolkata, raising the incident in the state assembly, opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Abdur Rezzak Mollah demanded a statement from the chief minister.