The death toll due to the suspected consumption of spurious liquor in Punjab’s Sangrur district has risen to 14, with four more people succumbing in Sunam, 30km from the district headquarters, on Friday,
Sunam senior medical officer (SMO) Dr Sanjay Kamra said 12 patients were admitted to the civil hospital on Friday morning. Of them, two were declared brought dead, while one died during treatment. The fourth died at the civil hospital in Sangrur.
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The district administration said that the exact cause of the deaths would be ascertained after the post-mortem.
The deceased were identified as Budh Singh, Laxman Singh, Sakhinath and Darshan Singh.
Ten men had died in various villages of Dirba block of Sangrur after consuming spurious liquor till Thursday.
Sunam deputy superintendent of police GS Dhaliwal said a case was registered under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and investigation was underway.
On Wednesday, police had said five men had died after consuming spurious liquor and some were hospitalised. Three of those hospitalised at Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala succumbed during treatment, taking the toll to eight, officials said on Thursday.
Special director general of police Arpit Shukla said on Thursday that four people, including main accused and Patiala resident Harmanpreet Singh, have been arrested in connection with the incident. Three others — Sukhwinder Singh, Manpreet Singh, and Gurlal Singh — were arrested earlier in the case.
The police recovered 200 litres of ethanol, 156 bottles of alcohol, 130 bottles containing suspected spurious liquor with labelling, 80 bottles containing spurious liquor without labelling, 4,500 empty bottles and a bottling machine, among other items.
The district administration has formed a five-member committee to investigate the matter. The committee comprises Dirba sub-divisional magistrate, two officers of Dirba police (deputy superintendent of police and a station house officer), a senior medical officer and an excise and taxation officer.
The committee is to submit its report by Saturday, Sangrur deputy commissioner Jitendra Jorwal said.
A survey was conducted at Gujran village from where the first five victims were reported to find out if anyone else was suffering deterioration in health. Multiple teams of health officials, anganwadi workers, police, revenue and rural development officials are conducting a door-to-door survey.
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