Hooch claims 5 lives in Samastipur

SAMASTIPUR: Five persons, including four women, died in a suspected hooch tragedy at Kashipur locality of Samastipur town on Saturday. The deceased have been identified as Soma Devi (45), Rajni Devi (40), Chinta Devi (50), Sanju Devi (38) and Ashok Ram (45), all resident of a dalit basti located here. While four of the dead were employees of Samastipur Nagar Parishad, the fifth was a railway employee at Samastipur.According to sources, all the five died after thereportedly consumed country-made liquor believed to have been mixed with somepoisonous substance.The liquor was purchased from a local dealer. Ongetting information, Samastipur SP Daljeet Singh and other police officialsvisited the dalit basti and inquired into the incident. Excise superintendentGanesh Prasad and other officers also visited the basti.Although theSP denied that the five died after consuming spurious liquor, Dr A B Sahay amember of the medical board which performed post-mortem of the victims confirmedthe deaths occurred due to poisoning. He said it was now for the police toinvestigate how the poisonous substance entered their bodies. Their viscera havebeen preserved been for further examination, Dr Sahay said.One more person identified as Shiv Prasad, having similar symptoms of poisoning, has been referred to the Darbhanga Medical College Hospital (DMCH) for treatment, he added.