South Asia News
19 die after drinking tainted liquor in India's Kolkata
Jan 5, 2009, 7:42 GMT
New Delhi - At least 19 slum dwellers died in India's eastern Kolkata city after drinking illegally brewed poisonous alcohol, news reports said Monday.
Several labourers living in two slum areas in the suburbs of the capital of the eastern West Bengal state fell ill Saturday night after drinking the illicit alcohol, IANS news agency reported.
'Three persons died on Saturday. The rest died Sunday and Monday morning,' deputy police commissioner Jawed Shamim said.
A number of illegal liquor outlets in the city and its suburbs have been raided and four people have been arrested, Shamim added.
Scores of people die in India every year after consuming tainted moonshine. Many of the deaths are reported from the eastern and southern parts of the country.
Illicit liquor is a thriving business in India because it is much cheaper than legally made alcohol.
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