11 dead after consuming suspected spurious liquor in MP

At least 11 people havedied and eight others have fallen seriously ill afterconsuming suspected spurious liquor in Madhya Pradesh's Morenadistrict, police said on Tuesday.

As per preliminary reports, some villagers consumed awhite coloured liquor, Morena Superintendent of Police AnuragSujania said.

''On Monday night, eleven people from Manpur andPahawali villages died after consuming suspected spuriousliquor,'' he said.

Eight others fell seriously ill and they were referredto Gwalior for treatment, he said.

The postmortem is underway and whether the liquor waspoisonous or not will be ascertained after the autopsy reportscome, the official said.

State Home Minister Narottam Mishra said a policeofficial has been suspended following the incident.

''The incident of deaths caused by drinking poisonousliquor in Morena is very sad and painful. The in-charge of thepolice station concerned has been suspended. A separate teamis also being sent for investigation,'' Mishra said in a tweet.

Those responsible for the incident will not be spared,he added.

State Congress chief Kamal Nath hit out at the ShivrajSingh Chouhan-led state government over the incident.

''Liquor mafia continues to wreak havoc, after killing16 in Ujjain, now they have killed about 10 people in Morena.

''Shivraj ji, how long will the liquor mafia keepkilling people like this? The government should provide propertreatment to the sick and help the affected families in everyway possible,'' Nath said in a tweet.

He alleged that the chief minister has been makingfalse tall claims about action against the mafias.