Poisonous liquor claims 38 lives in Punjab

Chandigarh: 38 people lost their lives, in three districts of Punjab, after consuming poisonous liquor. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amrinder Singh has ordered a judicial inquiry, taking serious cognisance of the incident.

38 people have died in the last two days in the Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran districts, of Punjab. Maximum of 13 deaths were reported from the Tarn Taran district on Friday. Punjab police informed that 11 were from Amritsar and eight people were from the Batala city, of Gurdaspur, among the dead.

The first incident was reported from the Muchchal and Tangra villages in Amritsar, on the 29th of July. Five people died here, after consuming poisonous liquor. Thereafter, on the 30th of July, 2 more people died in the Muchchal village. Following this, deaths due to poisonous liquor were reported from Tarn Taran and the Batala Town. Some people are in critical condition and it is feared that the number of casualties may increase.

Punjab Chief Minister Amrinder Singh ordered a magistrate level enquiry and handed over the investigation to the Police Commissioner of the Jalandhar division. The police Commissioner has been authorised to seek help from any police official or expert, to the inquiry.

The officials informed that the investigation would be carried out jointly by the Excise Commissioner and Divisional Superintendent of police. Punjab government has formed a special unit for the investigation. In a swift action, the Punjab police have arrested a few people responsible for making poisonous liver. There is a woman, Balwinder Kaur, among the people arrested.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that nine people died, in Hyderabad, because of consuming sanitiser, as liquor was not available.