At least 154 people have died and more than 200 others have been hospitalized after drinking tainted alcohol in India, officials said.
The victims consumed unregulated moonshine, known locally as “country-made liquor” in the northeast state of Assam.
Police raised the death toll from 133 on Monday.
Thirty four people have been arrested for their suspected involvement in the supply of the illegal alcohol. Police said they are questioning others associated with bootlegging in the area.
“It is illicit liquor that was brewed locally. We are still investigating what was the composition and what was mixed in the alcohol,” said Mukesh Agarwal a senior police official in Golaghat district in northeastern Assam state.
Police suspect those who drank the liquor contracted “methyl alcohol poisoning” from “methanol that was added to the mixture,” he added.
The first cases, reported Thursday evening, indicated most victims were tea garden workers, said Manoj Baruah, an official in Jorhat, the other district where cases were reported.
“It is a case of alcohol poisoning, and it has affected a few tea gardens and villages surrounding them in this district,” said Partha Pratim Saikia, a senior police official in Assam.
