Four persons have died and 18 others were hospitalised, eight of them in critical condition, in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district after consuming spurious liquor that had been illegally brought from Madhya Pradesh, police said.
Four bootleggers have been detained in this connection, they said, adding that the victims had consumed duplicate liquor of a popular Indian-Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) brand. Gujarat is a ‘dry’ state where manufacturing, sale and consumption of alcohol are banned.
The first death was reported on Tuesday evening, another one in the night of the same day and two others died on Wednesday, police said.
Bhavnagar District Collector Manish Kumar Bansal on Wednesday said the spurious liquor affected at least 22 people.
While deaths of three persons – Kartik Makwana (40), Upendra Gohil (25), and Ghanshyamsinh Jadeja (50) – had been confirmed due to consumption of spurious liquor, the postmortem and toxicology reports of the fourth victim, identified as Narendra Yadav, are awaited, Bansal said. All the deceased are from Bhavnagar district.
Of the 18 people currently admitted to five hospitals including Sir Takhtasinhji General Hospital and four private hospitals, two remained in critical condition, four are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), two are on ventilator support and 10 others are in stable condition, the collector said.
In a video statement, Bansal said the district administration received information around 6 pm on Tuesday about a group of four persons falling ill after consuming illicit liquor during a party held at Kharkadi village in Ghogha taluka of the district on August 16. The collector said that one person from Surat was currently undergoing treatment there, while the person from Jamnagar is asymptomatic.
Story continues below this ad
Bansal said that senior government doctors had been deputed at the private hospitals for supervision. A nephrologist team from the Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre (IKDRC), Ahmedabad, was on the way to offer expert help, he added.
While the initial death and hospitalisations came from the party held in Kharakadi village in the afternoon on Sunday, the same batch of spurious liquor was allegedly sold to several people across at least two talukas — Ghogha and Bhavnagar.
FIR names 21 people
The Bhavnagar Police on Tuesday night detained four bootleggers suspected to be involved in the illegal transport of spurious liquor from Madhya Pradesh and then selling it in Bhavnagar. Earlier in the day, Superintendent of Police Nitesh Pandey told mediapersons that it primarily appeared that the deaths had taken place due to consumption of duplicate IMFL liquor.
“When the incident came to our attention, we formed 16 police teams and began the hunt to apprehend the accused bootleggers and to find out the extent of the distribution of the particular liquor consignment,” Pandey told reporters in Bhavnagar. He said that teams from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) had also been involved in the investigation and samples have been sent for testing.
Story continues below this ad
Speaking to The Indian Express on Wednesday evening, S P Pandey said, “The main suspect, Gautam Solanki, had brought the liquor and then distributed it to other bootleggers in his network. They then sold it to others. We have identified most persons part of the bootlegging network and questioning is underway.”
“The FSL are working on the samples taken from the bottles but their conclusions are awaited. Medical samples from the bodies have also been sent to the Directorate of Forensic Science (DFS) for examination,” the SP said. A total of 21 persons including Solanki were booked in an FIR filed at Vartej police station in Bhavnagar on the basis of a complaint by Inspector SB Padheriya, under BNS Sections for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, causing hurt by means of poison, adulteration of food or drink and it’s sale, sale of counterfeit goods, as well as under various Sections of the Prohibition Act.
When asked about how many bottles of the spurious liquor had been brought to Gujarat in this consignment and whether the police had been able to account for all of them, Pandey said, “How many bottles were brought and from where, is currently under investigation. However, we are in touch with the police in Madhya Pradesh and they are probing the Ujjain-Indore-Guna belt to search for the source of the spurious liquor.”
The Gujarat government on Tuesday night deployed the State Monitoring Cell (SMC) to help with the investigation. SMC chief SP Mayur Chavda reached Bhavnagar on Tuesday night and met SP Pandey and Bhavnagar Range IG R V Asari. The SMC, which functions under the direct supervision of the state police chief, has wide-ranging powers with the mandate to primarily curb crimes related to liquor prohibition and gambling across the state.
Brendan Dabhi works with The Indian Express, focusing his comprehensive reporting primarily on Gujarat. He covers the region's most critical social, legal, and administrative sectors, notably specializing at the intersection of health, social justice, and disasters.
Expertise
Health and Public Policy: He has deep expertise in healthcare issues, including rare diseases, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), the complex logistics of organ transplants, and public health challenges like drug-resistant TB and heat health surveillance. His on-ground reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic and Mucormycosis was critical in exposing healthcare challenges faced by marginalized communities in Gujarat.
Social Justice and Legal Administration: He reports on the functioning of the legal and police system, including the impact of judicial philosophy, forensics and crucial administrative reforms (. He covers major surveillance and crackdown exercises by the Gujarat police and security on the international border.
Disaster and Crisis Management: His work closely tracks how government and civic bodies respond to large-scale crises, providing essential coverage on the human and administrative fallout of disasters including cyclones, floods, conflict, major fires and reported extensively on the AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad.
Civic Infrastructure and Governance: Provides timely reports on critical civic failures, including large scale infrastructure projects by the railways and civic bodies, as well as the enforcement of municipal regulations and their impact on residents and heritage. ... Read More
