MUMBAI: Fifty-three people have died in Mumbai and 28 others are being treated in hospital after drinking toxic home-made liquor, police said on Friday, in the latest incident of alcohol poisoning in India.

Dhananjay Kulkarni, Mumbai police deputy commissioner, said the victims had started to fall ill on Wednesday morning after consuming the illicit moonshine.

“The number of dead has risen to 53,” the commissioner said late on Friday, up from an earlier death toll of 41.

“Twenty-eight others are receiving treatment after consuming the spurious liquor. Crime branch is investigating and three suspects are being held in custody,” Kulkarni added.

The three men, aged 30, 47, and 50, were arrested on Thursday night, he said.

The commissioner also said eight police officers have been suspended for a “negligent approach while discharging their duty” for failing to stop production and sale of the liquor on their beat.

Bootleg liquor is widely consumed across India where it is sometimes sold for less than a dollar for a 25cl bottle, with deaths frequently reported. It is rare however for such incidents to occur in a major city like Mumbai, with most cases taking place in poor, rural villages.

Kulkarni said it was the worst case of its kind to be recorded in the western Indian city in more than a decade.

“Such a tragedy happened in 2004 when more than 100 deaths took place,” he explained, referring to the “Vikhroli hooch tragedy”, named after the suburb where the victims lived. The victims of the latest incident were residents of a slum in the suburb of Malad West, in the north of the city.

Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, ordered an immediate inquiry.

In January, more than 31 people died near Lucknow in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh after drinking a lethal batch of home-brew. Methanol, a highly toxic form of alcohol used as an anti-freeze or fuel, is often added to bootleg liquor in India as a cheap and quick method of upping the alcohol content.

Published in Dawn June 20th, 2015

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