Flip flop continues over death toll in Handia hooch tragedy

PRAYAGRAJ, March 17 (HS): Death toll in Handia hooch tragedy reached 11 on Wednesday with the death of 60-year-old Kallu Kanojia. Bid to cover up the incident under wraps have fallen flat. However, administrative officials are claiming that six people have died after consuming spurious liquor and the remaining five were natural deaths due to prolonged illness. This is in stark contrast to their earlier statement on Tuesday in which they claimed, “Prima facie no evidence of hooch, says administration; viscera report awaited.”

Earlier, police had claimed that the mysterious death of four persons in in Saidabad and Handia blocks in the trans-Ganga area of Prayagraj cannot be attributed to spurious liquor. The series of the incident started taking place after Sunday evening when a woman identified as Sushila Devi, a resident of Saray Mansoor village in Handia block died on Sunday evening. Handia police said Sushila was also involved in selling spurious liquor in many villages under the Handia area. The family members of Shushil had performed her funeral while police have taken the body of another victim Ajay Gupta for post mortem.

Meanwhile, SSP Sarvshreshtha Trpathi has suspended a sub inspector and four constables for negligence. Police has arrested nine people including the kingpin Vinod Bhartiya. DM, SSP visited Saidabad and Handia areas to take stock of situation and said that they were wating for viscera report for further action.

SP (Trans Ganga) Dhawal Jaiswal while speaking to HS said that a man named Shobhnath had died of stomach ache two days back in Sangrampatti village. a man identified as Ajay Lal Gupta died of a “gastro problem” as he had not consumed meals for the past five days. Similarly, another person named Kabir alias Ramji of Sangram Patti village, suffering from paralysis had died after consuming spirit in the Allahapur area of the city. Besides, another person identified as Chote Lal Kanojia of Beenda village died after consuming an excessive amount of spurious liquor. Bodies have been sent for post mortem to ascertain the cause of death. Investigation is underway and nine people involved in the business of spurious liquor have been arrested so far. More arrests are likely in the days to come.”

The Handia hooch tragedy comes close on the heels of similar contingency in Fatehpur and Pratapgarh last week. These districts fall under Prayagraj division.