9 Indians die after consuming food at relative's home

At least nine people died allegedly after consuming food at a relative's home in northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, officials said onThursday.

The incident took place at village Thal Khurd of Barabanki district, about 61 km east of Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh.

"Nine people died at Lucknow's Trauma Centre after being brought here. The people had consumed food at their relative's place in Thal Khurd village of Barabanki," a police official in Lucknow said. "The bodies have been sent for postmortem."

Reports said the deceased (hailing from different villages) on Tuesday night had assembled at a relative's place for a family celebration, where they consumed food and home-made liquor.

Local administration have taken cognizance of the deaths and sent teams to the Thal Khurd village to investigate it.

"Authorities have rushed to the spot and are investigating the reason behind the death of nine people," a local official said. "We are investigating the matter and details would be disclosed after proper
verification."

Authorities however are not pointing at the home-made liquor and said they would issue the statement only after the availability of post-mortem report.

"It's too early to say anything," a police official said. "Let the post-mortem report comes in, everything will get clear."

As per a new law which was passed by the Uttar Pradesh assembly earlier this month. people dealing in illicit or spurious liquor in state may face death penalty or life imprisonment.

Last year 18 people were killed and over a dozen sickened due to consumption of spurious liquor in Azamgarh district of the state, reports Xinhua.

Spurious alcohol deaths are often reported in India, where people often drink cheap country made bootleg liquor.