Kendrapada: Two men died in Jagatsinghpur district on Tuesday night after allegedly consuming spurious liquor, a claim denied by the police. According to the police, preliminary probe revealed the two had pesticides-laden mushrooms after drinking alcohol, resulting in their death.
“The pesticides used in farming the mushrooms is to be blamed for their death. The autopsy report will reveal the actual cause of death,” Jagatsinghpur SP Bhawani Sankar Udgata said.
However, Samantraypur panchayat sarpanch Madhusmita Behera linked their deaths to consumption of illicit liquor. The victims were identified as Gopabandhu Samal (74) and Bibhuti Samal (50). Both lived in Sirastha village.
According to Nutan Samal (48), son of Gopabandhu, both victims fell ill after drinking illicit liquor. “They were first taken to the community health centre at Patkura, from where they were shifted to the district headquarters hospital in Kendrapada, where they were declared brought dead,” Nutan said.
Chief district medical officer Pramod Praharaj said post-mortem has been conducted and the results are awaited.
Amarbar Biswal, president of the district unit of Nishamukti Abhijan, alleged that a well-organized racket is behind the distribution of illicit liquor and narcotics in rural and urban areas.
“Besides liquor, substances like ganja, opium and brown sugar are being trafficked from Cuttack, Chatia, Bhubaneswar and Paradip,” Biswal said.
It must be mentioned that five persons had died in Ganjam after consuming spurious liquor in Aug-Sept, after which the govt had ordered a massive crackdown on illict liquor.