More than 12 persons died after consuming suspected hooch in different districts of dry Bihar on Holi, March 19. Local police said the would not be able to confirm the deaths were caused by the consumption of illicit liquor “until post-mortem reports come in”. Bihar was declared a dry State in April 2016 under a stringent Prohibition law.
At least seven persons died in the Amarpur block of Banka district. Four persons died in the Sahibganj area of the Nathnagar locality in Bhagalpur district. The deceased were identified as Raja Tiwari of Kamdeopur, and Raghunandan Poddar, Sanjay Sharma, Sumit Kumar, Vijay Sah, Rahul Singh and Ashish Kumar from other villages. Similarly, at least four persons died in a suspected hooch tragedy in the Sahibganj area in the Nathnagar block of Bhagalpur district. They were identified as Binod Rai, Sandip Yadav, Nilesh Kumar and Mithun Kumar. Abhishek Kumar, a youth, lost his eye sight and has been admitted a hospital in the town.
