Six people died and four others are in critical condition after consuming spurious alcohol that was being illegally distributed in the Nai Basti, Pathariya Peer colony. The deaths have taken place on Thursday and Friday.

The deceased have been identified as Rajendra, Guddu alias Lalla, Sharan, Surendra, Akash and Inder while the victims at hospital are Avinash alias Lucky, Vimal, Nannu alias Varun and a lady Leela.

Circle Officer (city) Shekhar Suyal said, “The patients are being referred to higher centres. We will further work on the case and investigate as per the facts. As of now, we have the information about six deaths.”

Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi said, “This is a matter of great concern. Senior officers have been asked to look into the matter thoroughly. The local residents allege that a local person sells spurious liquor. This is also a lapse from police level.”

Local people have alleged that a local leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is one of the people involved in the illegal business facilitating the illegal sale of liquor. People also said that despite a number of complaints to the authorities and local representatives, no satisfactory actions were taken.

Dehradun district Excise Officer, Manoj Upadhyay said, “After the allegations of spurious alcohol bought from licensed liquor outlets by these victims, we have ordered our staff to take samples from nearby liquor outlets. After the medical reports of the victims and other investigative reports, we will be able to say anything for certain.”

When asked about the people’s allegations that excise department even after multiple complaints has failed to take strict actions against illegal sale of alcohol in the area, he said that they conduct survey every now and then and take strict actions against those found guilty.