Tainted liquor death toll rises to 57 in India; crackdown launched

The death toll from a batch of illegally brewedalcohol in northern India doubled on Saturday, as authoritieslaunched a crackdown, and police and officials were suspended.At least 57 people have died after drinking the poisonous liquor,suspected of being laced with menthol. The toll Friday had been 28.  The victims, all villagers in adjoining districts of Uttar Pradeshand Uttarakhand states, had consumed the tainted liquor on Thursday.Police, who are working on the assumption that the alcohol may havecome from the same source, have arrested 30 people, many of thembootleggers, and seized hundreds of litres of tainted liquor.Authorities have suspended over 30 officials, including 10 policemen,on charges of negligence or collusion in the illicit trade. Twenty more people had died in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district,bringing the death toll there to 36, top administrative official AlokPandey told dpa by phone on Saturday. Twenty-two people were admittedto hospitals but were in stable condition, he said.In Uttarakhand state's Haridwar district, the death toll had risen to21, from 12 on Friday, regional police chief Janmejay Khanduri said.An average of 1,000 people, mostly from poorer sections of society,die in India each year after consuming illegally brewed alcohol,according to the National Crime Records Bureau.The liquor is usually made with poor-quality ingredients andsometimes mixed with industrial alcohol and toxic substances. Deathsas a result of consuming such alcohol are in the headlines regularly.