Dozens dead in Mumbai after consuming toxic alcohol

Saturday, June 20, 2015

As of today, as many as 84 people are reported dead since Wednesday after drinking toxic homemade alcohol sold in a slum in Malad in northern Mumbai. More than twenty others are reported admitted to hospital for alcohol poisoning.

Police said five people have been arrested for the transport and sale of the alcohol with three men ages 30 to 50 taken into police custody on Thursday night, and eight police suspended for failing to prevent the incident.

An investigation has been ordered by Devendra Fadnavis, the present chief minister of Maharashtra state.

Illicit alcohol is commonly sold in India usually in the poorer, more rural areas of the country and deaths from alcohol poisoning are not uncommon. However, this is the largest rash of deaths in Mumbai since the Vikhroli hooch tragedy of 2004 where more than 100 people died due to low-cost alcohol.