6 Dead, 3 Critical after Contestant Distributes Spurious Liquor at Rally

At least six people died and three are in critical condition after consuming spurious liquor at a rally organised by a contestant for the UP Panchayat Elections in UP’s Pratapgarh district.

The candidate allegedly distributed adulterated liquor to his supporters at his rally to his supporters on Tuesday. Some of the participants fell sick and their condition deteriorated overnight. So far, six villagers including two brothers of a family have died after consuming the liquor distributed at the election rally, police said. Three villagers are in critical condition and are undergoing treatment at a local hospital.

Two of the six deceased belonged to the neighbouring village. The deceased were identified as Siddhnath Kori (70) of Raki village, Pradeep (35) and his elder brother Dilip (50) of Katria village, and Ram Kumar Prajapati (45) of Aahar Beehar village.

The incident took place in Katariya village of Udaypur area, after which ADG Prayagraj, Prem Prakash visited the village to meet the relatives of the deceased and assured of stringent action against the liquor mafia.

Superintendent of police, Pratapgarh, Akash Tomar placed station house officer, Udaypur, R K Prajapati under suspension for dereliction of duty and ordered a probe into the incident.

Taking note of the incident the district administration has suspended four officials including the SO and Excise inspector. The state government has also summoned a detailed report of the entire incident from district officials.

Recently seven officials including the Excise inspector and Nawabganj SO, were arrested for a liquor death incident in the Sangramgarh area.