Ujjain hooch tragedy: The doctors say most people died within 15 minutes.
Fourteen people, most of them labourers, died in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, after consuming what was suspected to be illicit liquor. The police have arrested 10 people while the authorities suspended four policemen including a police station in-charge, a sub-inspector and two constables.
"Eleven people, mostly beggars and poor labourers, died after drinking some poisonous liquid since Wednesday in areas under three police stations -- Kharakuwa, Jeevajiganj and Mahakal," senior police official of Ujjain Rupesh Dwivedi was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India.
"We are investigating what liquid they consumed and who sold it. We are carrying out raids," he said.
"Eleven people were brought to a local hospital in a critical condition. None of them survived for more than 15 minutes after being brought," Chief Medical and Health Officer of Ujjain, Mahaveer Khandelwal, was quoted as saying by PTI.
"It could be spurious liquor, spirit or some other chemical. It will be known when the viscera report comes in," he added.
Preliminary postmortem reports indicate that death seems to have occurred due to the consumption of denatured spirit. At least six of them had drunk an intoxicant called potali (cheap liquor), the police said.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced an inquiry by senior home ministry official Rajesh Rajora.
He would be assisted by Additional Director General SK Jha and Sushant Saxena, the Deputy Inspector General of Ratlam Range.
The main accused in the case, Younis, got arrested while taking a bus from Indore to Agra.
Ujjain Collector Ashish Singh said an order has been issued to crack down on people selling poisonous substances and to charge them under stringent National Security Act or NSA.