11 DEAD AFTER DRINKING ILLICIT LIQUOR IN U.P.

kAligarh (UP), May 28:

Eleven people died on Friday and some more were taken ill after allegedly consuming spurious liquor sold by a licensed vendor here, a senior official said.

The authorities ordered a magisterial probe and suspended five excise officials while four people, including the liquor vend owner, were arrested. The inquiry will be conducted by an additional district magistrate-rank officer, DM Chandra Bhushan Singh said.

The administration is likely to invoke the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against those found guilty, he said. Confirming the 11 deaths, the DM said information about other people who drank liquor bought from the same vendor is trickling in. DIG Dipak Kumar said the Lodha police station was informed about the death of two in the morning. The victims were truck drivers who gathered at a gas depot on the Aligarh-Tapaal highway for work.