Chandigarh: The death toll in the Punjab hooch tragedy rose to 98 Sunday with 12 more people reported dead in Tarn Taran district after drinking spurious liquor.
“In Tarn Taran, the death toll is now 75,” Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kulwant Singh said over the phone. He, however, said the administration put the figure at 75 on the basis of the information ‘received from the field’ as the victims’ last rites have already been performed by their families in the past a couple of days. “Some of them even didn’t come forward for autopsy,” he informed.
Apart from Tarn Taran, 12 deaths have been reported from Amritsar and 11 from Gurdaspur’s Batala, in a tragedy unfolding since Wednesday evening.
Officials said some of the families were not even coming forward to report the death of their kin after drinking spurious liquor. A senior police official stated they have been persuading affected families to report the death of members.
Meanwhile, the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP held) protests at several places, including Patiala, Barnala, Pathankot and Moga, against the Punjab government. The protesters accused the government of ‘negligence’, leading to death of people, mostly belonging to poor families.
AAP MP Bhagwant Mann also went to Tarn Taran and met families of the deceased. He sought a probe by a sitting judge into the matter.
The Punjab government has ordered a magisterial probe into the case. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had announced Saturday the suspension of seven excise and six police officials. The chief minister had described the police and excise department failure to check the manufacturing and sale of spurious liquor as ‘shameful’. He also announced Rs 2,00,000 ex gratia for each of the families of the deceased.