[Bangla Daily Star] At least three people died and another 20 fell sick, nine of them being in a critical condition, after having toxic liquor at Kathpatti in Dariyapur Bazar under Sadar upazila early yesterday.The dead are Abul Hossain, 45 and Rustom Ali, 43, of village Dariyapur and Jalil Mia, 52, of Laxmipur village of the Sadar upazila.
Police said some 30 persons consumed local liquor at the shop of Rustom Ali at mid-night and fell sick due to severe stomachache.
They were rushed to the Gaibandha Sadar Hospital at around 4:00am while three of them died on way to the hospital.
Later, nine of them were transferred to the Rangpur Medical College Hospital as their condition deteriorated, sources said.
Of the sick, Shamsul Alam, 42, was suffering from temporary blindness, the doctor said.
Rustom, who also died in the incident, had long been involved in illegal trading of liquor and hashish (cannabis) in the area ignoring the law-enforcers, locals said.
Police meanwhile, in a raid recovered 40 litres of local liquor from different places of Dariyapur and arrested Akhter Hossain, an alleged hashish trader, in this connection.