On Wednesday, the Gujarat Police revealed that around 30 people had died and over 60 people are admitted to hospitals after the villagers of Batod district consumed poisonous chemicals under the pretext of alcohol. However, police are saying that it is wrong to call it a hooch tragedy as the villagers consumed poisonous substances that was sold as alcohol. “Villagers consumed chemicals, it’s a chemical tragedy”, SP Batod said on July 27.
“We took immediate action. More than 10 villages affected, we found people who consumed this chemical. At present, 60 people admitted while 30 deaths occurred in Botad district”, he added. According to the official, some of the deceased were residents of the nearby Dhandhuka taluka in the Ahmedabad district while other belonged to villages from Batod.
Gujarat hooch tragedy | Villagers consumed chemicals, it’s chemical tragedy. We took immediate action. More than 10 villages affected,we found people who consumed this chemical. At present, 60 people admitted while 30 deaths occurred in Botad district: Karanraj Vaghela, SP, Botad pic.twitter.com/8HYdUpbVQu
— ANI (@ANI) July 27, 2022
Around 60 people are still admitted and are under treatment at the hospitals in Bhavnagar, Botad, and Ahmedabad. The saga began on Monday when reports about the hooch tragedy emerged with several residents of Botad’s Rojid village and nearby villages being referred to the government hospitals with crumbling health.
The Police lodged the primary investigations to discover that some inexperienced bootleggers in villages of the Botad district had prepared fake alcohol by mixing water with the highly poisonous industrial solvent methyl alcohol, or Methanol, and sold it to the villagers at a minimal rate of rupees 20.
The Gujarat Home Department has formed a three-person committee to probe the case extensively, chaired by senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Subhash Trivedi, and has directed the committee to produce a report within three days. According to a police inquiry, Jayesh alias Raju, a manager at an Ahmedabad godown, stole 600 liters of methyl alcohol on July 25 and sold it to his Botad-based cousin Sanjay for Rs 40,000.
Despite understanding it was an industrial solvent, Sanjay sold it to bootleggers from several Botad villages. These bootleggers combined water with the chemical and sold it to the public as home-brewed booze. Authorities claim that forensic testing proved the victims drank methyl alcohol.
To note, the Botad and Ahmedabad police have filed two FIRs under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder), 328 (causing bodily harm by poison), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) against around 20 suspects. SP Batod meanwhile also informed that 10 accused have been nabbed and the police are investigating the matter to nab the other accused.
