[News] 28 people dead, 60 sick from drinking spiked alcohol in India

 

At least 28 people have died and 60 others have become ill from drinking spiked alcohol with methanol in western India.

 

The deaths occurred in the Ahmedabad and Botad districts of Gujarat state, where the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol is prohibited.

There was 98 percent methanol in the liquor they consumed, that means they had consumed methanol only which has increased the death toll,’ Bhavnagar Ashok Yadav, inspector general of police, told The Times of India.

The Ahmedabad city crime department has arrested a chemical owner Jayesh Khavadiya from Narol and his eight accomplices over suspected bootlegging.

The death toll is expected to increase further after several patients arrived in Ahmedabad civil hospital for treatment.

Deaths from illegally brewed alcohol are common in India, where illicit liquor is cheap and often spiked with chemicals such as pesticides to increase potency.

In 2020, at least 120 people died after drinking spiked alcohol in India’s northern Punjab state.