Woman, 2 others die after consuming toddy in MP's Dhar

Dhar (Madhya Pradesh) [India], April 17 : Three persons, including a woman died and over one dozen people took ill after consuming toddy in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district, a police official said on Monday.

The incident occurred in Jhadamali village under Tanda police station limits on April 16 and all the affected people were from the same family.

Dhar Superintendent of Police (SP) Manoj Kumar Singh said, "Members of a large family in the district drank toddy, as a result of which a few of them suffered vomiting and diarrhoea. A man died at his home around 1 pm on Sunday."

"As soon as we received information about the incident, we reached the spot. We gathered all the affected people and admitted them to the hospital. Later, two more people, including a woman, died in the night. The remaining people are not displaying any symptoms and being monitored in the hospitals. A total of three persons, including the woman, died while 13 people became ill," SP Singh said.

He added that four persons were admitted to the Dhar district hospital while nine people were admitted at a hospital in Alirajpur. The police official added that a pouch of insecticide was recovered from the spot and only after a postmortem, it could be determined whether or not the drinks of the affected people were spiked.

There is a possibility that they might have consumed toddy in excess amounts. Nonetheless, the reason would be clear only after a postmortem report and further action into the matter would be taken accordingly, SP Singh added.

A local villager said that these people had consumed the toddy around 10am on Sunday after which their health deteriorated.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition, Govind Singh said that the State government was responsible for the death of people.

Singh said, "The government is completely responsible for the deaths in Dhar. The State government works to be tribal friendly, but because of their new liquor policy, liquor vends are running in every village. The government is engaged in increasing revenue. Tribal people have died in Dhar and the government is responsible for that. The government is only making excuses and they do not want to work for the tribal people."