
At least 28 people have died and 60 others have been hospitalized after drinking high-methanol alcohol in western India. The incident took place in the Ahmedabad and Botad districts of Gujarat state, where the production, sale and consumption of alcohol is prohibited, according to foreign media.
"There was 98% methanol in the drink they consumed, which means they had consumed only methanol, which has increased the death toll," said Bhavnagar Ashok Yadav, inspector general of police.
Ahmedabad city crime department has arrested a landlord Jayesh Khavadiya from Narol and his eight accomplices. Gujarat province has banned alcohol consumption since 1960 as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, assassinated in 1948, but hundreds of residents have died in the decades since the illegal liquor trade began.
Local police regularly turn a blind eye to the liquor trade, as they pay bribes to carry out their illegal sale in villages, according to local media.