Death toll from Mumbai liquor poisoning rises to 90: police

Mumbai: The death toll from India’s latest incident of mass alcohol poisoning rose to 90 on Saturday following the consumption of toxic homemade liquor, Mumbai police said.
Dhananjay Kulkarni, deputy police commissioner in the western Indian city, said it was possible that the number of dead from drinking the illicit moonshine could reach three figures. “Ninety people have now died,” he said. “More than 40 are being treated in a hospital and the death toll may reach 100,” the commissioner added.
Victims first started to fall ill on Wednesday morning after consuming the illegal booze and new patients were still being admitted to hospital on Saturday, Kulkarni said. Five people have so far been arrested for distributing and selling the alcohol in a slum in the suburb of Malad West, in the north of the city. Eight police officers have also been suspended for “negligence” for allowing the sale to take place on their patch, Kulkarni said. An investigation is taking place over whether high levels of methanol were present in the moonshine, often called “country liquor” in India.