Patna, May 26 (IANS): The death toll in suspected hooch tragedy in Bihar's Aurangabad district has reached 13 while many others are battling for their lives in hospitals.

Earlier, the Aurangabad police had claimed five persons including three from Khiriyawa village and two from Raniganj village under Madanpur police station were killed due to "poisonous" liquor between Saturday and Tuesday.

The deceased were identified as Vinod Pal (55) former sarpanch of Khiriyawa, Sonwa Kunwr (60), Kameshwar Kumar (35), Shiv Saw, Shambhu Thakur, Anil Sharma, Vinay Kumar Gupta (30), Manoj Yadav (65), Ravindra Singh and 4 others. While three others, Dhananjay Chaudhary, Mohammad Nezam and Subodh Singh, are said to be critical and admitted in a hospital in Sherghati in Gaya district.

As per the information, a liquor consignment arrived from Jharkhand and distributed in Madanpur, Salaiya and Gaya's Aamas block. The sale of the liquor is currently underway and the villages of the region are becoming victims of it.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, three persons died in mysterious circumstances and eight others were hospitalised in Gaya. The family members of the deceased are claiming that they have consumed poisonous liquor during the wedding function on Monday.

The deceased were identified as Amar Paswan (26), Rahul Kumar (27) and Arjun Paswan (43). The victims went to Pathra village under Aamas police station in the district to attend a wedding function where they allegedly consumed country made liquor.

Majority of the victims complained about vomiting, stomachache, and low visibility.

Following mass deaths in Aurangabad and Gaya, National Human Right Commission (NHRC) has served notice to the Bihar government and asked to reply on this matter.