Patna: Three people were arrested and several suspects detained in connection with the deaths of four people in Bedhna village under Barh subdivision, allegedly after consuming spurious liquor. Barh police station has registered case No. 587/26 in connection with the incident, police said. Extensive raids were being conducted and further legal action would follow based on the findings of the investigation, they said.Meanwhile grief and anger gripped the village on Monday as the four victims were cremated at Sati Sthan Ganga Ghat, where four funeral pyres were lit simultaneously. The deaths triggered outrage among villagers, who demanded immediate action against those allegedly involved in the illegal liquor trade. Residents alleged that the tragedy could have been prevented if the sale of illicit liquor had been stopped earlier. They also sought adequate assistance for the victims’ families.Agriculture minister Vijay Kumar Sinha, SDM Krishna Joshi and Barh SDPO Ayush Srivastava visited the village on Sunday after the incident. The authorities conducted postmortems on all four bodies before handing them over to their families.The deceased were identified as Shashi Kumar, Vikas Ram, Pankaj Singh and Nishu Kumar. Recalling the moments before the tragedy, Nishu’s father Raju Singh said his son had returned home and told his mother to cook rice for the fish party. He took the rice and left. Singh said the family learnt about the incident only five minutes later.Patna SSP Kartikeya K Sharma said an SIT had been formed under the Barh SDPO and questioning was underway as part of the investigation. He said officers were awaiting the chemical examination reports of the liquor bottle and food samples collected from the spot where the victims were eating.Sharma said police had found an open liquor bottle at the site and confirmed that liquor had been consumed by the group. However, it had not yet been established whether the liquor was responsible for the deaths, he said, adding that the exact cause would become clear after the postmortem and other investigation reports were received.According to the SSP, five people had joined the fish party, while one person had remained at the spot without drinking. “Police have been investigating the presence of another person who had been at the location shortly before the incident. The person has been identified but has not yet been located for questioning, and police were examining whether he could provide information relevant to the case,” Sharma told TOI.The SSP said the source from which the liquor had been obtained had not yet been established. He added that the group was having a fish meal and that food samples had also been collected for examination.Meanwhile, the prohibition department conducted raids in several police station areas following the deaths. The investigation into the alleged supply and sale of the liquor continued.The incident also prompted political criticism. Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav demanded a high-level probe into the deaths and questioned how similar incidents continued to occur.Tejashwi, while describing the incident as unfortunate, said Bihar’s law-and-order situation had deteriorated. He also demanded an investigation into the deaths. “Despite more than 1,500 deaths from poisonous liquor in the state so far, the govt remains silent on this issue,” he said.
