DH News Service, Bangalore:
Bangalore, May 20: The devas-tating hooch tragedy trigg-ered by the consumption of spurious liquor at Roshan Nagar, D J Halli in Bang-alore, Kolar and Krishn-agiri in Tamil Nadu, conti-nued with its death dance as the toll rose to a mind-numbing 82 by Monday evening.
The number of dead in the City touched 31 –– 28 alone in D J Halli and the rest from K G Halli.
In Krishnagiri the toll rose to 30, while two others died in Anekal. The number of dead in Kolar district has touched 19.
Six men died on Monday at Athipalli village bord-ering Karnataka, Krish-nagiri district collector in charge S Nagaraj told Deccan Herald. At D J Halli, of the 25 who were hospitalised on Sunday, 12 succumbed by Monday morning. By evening, the number had touched 21, while six more died in surrounding areas.
Orgin of the brew
The police are now loo-king into the possibilty of the killer brew having been sourced from the same place.
Though the tragedy struck on Sunday morning when one of the victim, Shabbir, fell unconscious after a drink, the residents did not take it seriously. However, the situation worsened by late evening when dozens complained of blindness, chest pain and vomiting.
The police rushed to the spot following a complaint from Arun H, son of the deceased Hrudayaraj.
A quick inquiry linked the incident to local bootleggers Soundar Rajan and Iqbal alias Batti Iqbal, who were selling ID liquor for decades at Indrapuram, adjacent to Roshan Nagar. But the duo had fled the place before the police arrived on the scene.
Four cases were booked against the duo. As the tragedy unfolded, an irate mob ransackjed Soundar Rajan’s house.
Ill-equipped hospital
The Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, where most of the Bangalore victims were shifted, reported 57 admissions and 22 deaths. Eight critical cases were shifted to private hospitals due to inadequate ICU facilities and ventilators. Lack of trained staff for critical poisoning cases only added to the problems. Four patients were shifted to Manipal Hospital, two to K R Hospital (who later died), one to St Martha’s Hospital and another to Star Hospital.
Meanwhile, the killer brew has claimed 19 lives in Kolar district even as six persons in Narsapur and four in Tekal were arrested in connection with the hooch tragedy.
The excise department, meanwhile, was continuing with its raids on various illicit liquor dens at Bailanarasapur, Adigara Kallahalli and Kattigenahalli of Kolar district.
Meanwhile, the State government on Tuesday announced Rs 50,000 compensation to the kin of those dead in Bangalore and Kolar districts.
Governor Rameshwar Thakur, who reviewed the situation at a high-level meeting here, has directed the police to conduct the investigation.