Navi Mumbai hooch toll goes up to 8

Recuperating in Thane Civil Hospital, Hindurao Jadhav recalled his friend Vilas Mane’s philosophy of liqour being more energising than milk and said “it is not worth the risk.” Mane was one of the first to die after the incident. Jadhav was on his way home with his mate Dilip Shinde, when they decided to celebrate the Sunday evening at an outlet nearby. Luckily for them they limited their binge to just one bottle and hence were not seriously affected.

By late evening they heard four men from neighbouring slums were taken to hospital complaining of stomach ache and slight loss of sight. “I learnt they had alsoconsumed liqour at the shop I had been to, and I got scared,” he said.

According to police, one out of every ten households in the 1,300-odd slum settlement store and sell liqour. The spurious liqour is suspected to have been bought from areas near Mumbra. “We are now looking out for the people who supplied this liqour,” said Gonarkar. Five persons, including a woman vendor Kamalabai, have been arrested following the incident.

However, the liqour neither looked nor tasted spurious to S D Mandre who had come to Mumbai on a visit to his son-in-law. After finishing three bottles costing Rs 10 each, Mandre went home to have dinner. “Soon after, I felt dizzy and there was a burning sensation in my chest,” he recalled. He was among the first to be brought to the hospital.

Indrajit Ingle, a casual labourer, too felt dizzy after consuming nearly two bottles of the allegedly methyl alcohol-laced liqour. Used to getting drunk four times a week, Ingle has promised his family he will not drink again. However,his wife sitting at his bedside, unimpressed. Shaking her head slowly, she said, “He will.”

The two other casualties of the tragedy have been identified as Dilip Patil and Suresh Jadhav. Two others, Shobai Kewat and Subhash Koli, today died at the Chhatrapati Shivaji hospital in Kalwa after they had been admitted last night.