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| Moonshine deaths now 155 |
Most of those killed in the moonshine mass poisoning were poor people, including construction workers, rickshaw-pullers and street vendors. Several children also died.
More than a hundred of individuals who drank the contaminated home-made spirits are still in the hospitals.
According to the police, the victims ingested the poisonous moonshine Wednesday night and began dying early Thursday morning.
"More and more people are turning up with symptoms of liquor poisoning and one local hospital is now overcrowded," Local magistrate Narayan Swarup Nigam said.
The administrator added that methanol had been detected in at least 20 victims, which is being suspected to be the reason of the mass poisoning. Used as a fuel, solvent or anti-freeze, methanol is highly toxic.
Deaths attributed to toxic alcohol are reportedly common in India. Locally known as desi, daru, toddy or moonshine, the brew is often spiked with methyl alcohol and industrial spirits and, mixed wrongly, can cause vomiting, blindness and death.
Moonshine is mixed in illegal backyard stills, usually using molasses and the fragrant flowers of the mahua tree. A small plastic bagful of moonshine costs as little as five rupees.
Authorities have arrested four alleged bootleggers as local residents ransacked village breweries and staged protests.
The families of those who died have been offered of compensation from the local government.
"I want to take strong action against those manufacturing and selling illegal liquor," state chief minister Mamata Banerjee said.
The moonshine deaths are the highest since July 2009, when 122 people were killed in western Gujarat state after consuming toxic alcohol.
India has one of the faster growing legal alcohol markets in the world.
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