7 dead, 30 hospitalised after consuming spurious liquor in Gujarat

Seven people have died and 30 others are in hospital after consuming spurious liquor in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district, police said on Thursday.The police have detained 12 bootleggers so far, while a case has been registered against 21 people in connection with the incident.According to the police, the victims consumed liquor packed in duplicate bottles of a popular Indian-made foreign liquor brand. A state monitoring cell team has been assigned to investigate the case, which has spread beyond one village to other villages and parts of Bhavnagar city.Senior police officer RV Asari said seven people had died after consuming the spurious liquor and 30 were undergoing treatment. He said, "A case of accidental death was registered when a person died after consuming toxic, chemical-laced liquor at Kharakadi village. An FIR was subsequently lodged, naming 21 individuals as accused." Asari added that the police were investigating the case and that a State Monitoring Cell team had been tasked with handling it. "So far, 12 individuals have been rounded up," he said.Bhavnagar Collector Manish Kumar said the district administration received information at around 6 pm on Tuesday that a group of five friends had fallen ill after consuming illicit liquor during a party. He said it later emerged that people from other villages and areas within Bhavnagar city had also been affected. Superintendent of Police Nitesh Pandey said a group of people had consumed liquor from a "duplicate" bottle of a liquor brand a few days ago, after which their health deteriorated. He said medical examination of the victims showed a common pattern, with most of them having consumed alcohol from duplicate liquor bottles before falling ill.Teams of doctors from two Ahmedabad hospitals have been brought in to supervise free treatment camps running at private hospitals. Pandey said the preliminary investigation suggested that the bottles had been supplied from Madhya Pradesh, and further inquiries were under way into where exactly they came from, how they were produced, and who sent them to Bhavnagar.Police said many bottles of the same brand had been seized from bootleggers and efforts were under way to catch others involved in the supply of spurious liquor. Gujarat is a dry state, where the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol are banned, and the investigation is continuing as officials trace the source of the duplicate bottles.- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Aug 20, 2026 12:06 IST