MAHOTTARI, June 19: Three people died in Mahottari district on Sunday after consuming locally produced alcohol in excessive quantities.
The health of another man who drank what police have described as spurious liquor is in critical condition.
Binod Mahara, the owner of the pub that served the alcohol to the four, has gone into hiding since the incident.
The deceased have been identified as Pancha Malik from Gaushala-7, and Rambrichya Mallik, 70, and Prakash Mallik, 40, from Sahasaula VDC-6, according to Superintendent of Police (SP) Janak Bhattarai of the District Police Office (DPO), Mahottari. All the three deceased were related to one another.
Bodies of the deceased have been sent to the district hospital for post-mortem. The critically sick, Bandri Malik of Aurahi-3, is currently undergoing treatment at Ramgopalpur-based health post.
"All four of them had consumed excessive alcohol together at a local pub. They had reached their home by 2 am last night. All of them lost their conscious during sleeping and three of them died soon after," said SP Bhattarai.
People in the area are panic-stricken after they came to know about the incident.
People in the area are panic-stricken after they came to know about the incident.
This is not the first incident of its type in the district. Such incidents have taken place many times in the past, but the local authorities have failed to take any action to control the production and consumption of illegal alcohol. The District Administration Office (DAO) also has failed to stop local pubs from offering alcohol distilled using traditional method, even though they have often proved to be hazardous.
The DPO has been mobilizing a special unit to forcefully shut down operation of local distilleries in the district. However, such operations have not been much effective as the distilleries shut by the authorities simply relocate to other places.
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