Contaminated and illicit liquor kills dozens in India

NEW DELHI – At least 34 people have died and dozens have been hospitalized after drinking illegally manufactured alcoholic beverages in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, local media reported on Thursday.

State Chief Minister MK Stalin said the 34 died after consuming alcoholic beverages contaminated with methanol, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

The incident took place in the state’s Kallakurichi district, where more than 100 people are being treated at various hospitals, said district’s top official MS Prasanth. He added that the number of people in critical condition continues to change, suggesting the death toll could rise.

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Ambulances, doctors and specialists from nearby areas were sent to the district.

Government officials said earlier that several people who were vomiting and had stomach pains were admitted to hospitals on Wednesday, triggering a police investigation.

Later that day, Stalin, the chief minister, said in a post on the social media platform X that those involved in the crime had been arrested and that action had also been taken against officials who failed to prevent it. “These crimes that ruin society will be suppressed with an iron fist,” she added.

Deaths from illegally produced alcohol are common in India, where the poor cannot buy licensed brands in government-run stores. Illicit alcoholic beverages, which are often spiked with chemicals such as pesticides to increase potency, have also become an extremely profitable industry, as bootleggers pay no taxes and sell huge quantities of their product to the poor at cheap prices.

In 2022, more than 30 people died in the eastern Indian state of Bihar after allegedly drinking contaminated alcoholic beverages sold without authorization. Earlier that same year, at least 28 died from drinking altered alcoholic beverages in the state of Gujarat. And in 2020, at least 120 people died after drinking contaminated alcoholic beverages in the northern Indian state of Punjab.