Sixty-one people have been affected so far after consuming spurious liquor in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district, with eight deaths confirmed and 10 patients in critical condition, officials said on Friday.
The victims allegedly consumed liquor containing methanol, a highly toxic substance. Of those affected, 25 remain hospitalised, while 15 patients are stable and 10 are being treated in intensive care units, including one on ventilator support, the district administration said. Ten patients have been discharged, while 18 others who consumed the liquor visited hospitals and left after medical advice.
Police have arrested 13 of the 21 accused named in an FIR registered at Vartej police station in connection with the hooch tragedy. Gujarat is a dry state, where the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol are prohibited.
According to police, the victims consumed the spurious liquor from bottles bearing the name of a popular Indian-made foreign liquor brand.
The accused have been booked under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Gujarat Prohibition Act, including charges related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, adulteration and poisoning. A local court on Thursday remanded the arrested accused in police custody for 10 days.
The investigation has been handed over to the State Monitoring Cell (SMC), a specialised Gujarat Police unit that monitors illicit liquor and gambling operations across the state.
According to the FIR registered at Vartej police station on August 19, the illicit liquor was allegedly prepared at the residence of Gautam Solanki in Vartej with the help of Raees, who was detained from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.
Police said Raees and his associate Zuber, also from Ujjain, procured raw materials from Ahmedabad and prepared the liquor at Solanki’s house. The chemical-laced liquor was then packed and sealed in bottles and supplied to bootleggers for distribution.
Solanki allegedly told police that he came in contact with Raees through a common friend. The duo also allegedly involved Narendra Yadav, another Madhya Pradesh resident, in the operation.
Police said Yadav later died after consuming the liquor that he had allegedly helped prepare.
The incident came to light after three friends consumed the liquor in Vartej on the night of August 16 and subsequently fell ill. One of them died.
Blood tests conducted on the first victim, identified as Upendrasinh Gohil, detected methanol.
As more people fell ill, several victims were admitted to hospitals with severe complications. A Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report found that the seized liquor contained 38.59% methanol and 0.94% ethanol, officials said.
The SMC has expanded its investigation to trace the source of the raw materials and identify others involved in the illegal operation.
SMC Superintendent of Police Mayursinh Chavda said teams had been sent to Madhya Pradesh and Delhi, where the raw materials used to prepare the liquor were allegedly sourced.
“Prima facie, most of these people did this for financial gain,” Chavda said at a press conference on Thursday.
A majority of the bottles containing the chemical-laced liquor have been seized by the SMC, he said.
Investigators are also examining the source of the bottle-sealing equipment and identifying those who supplied it. Police are probing allegations that the accused attempted to destroy evidence and received assistance from relatives in doing so.
– Ends
Published By:
India Today Web Desk
Published On:
Aug 21, 2026 18:09 IST
