PATNA, April 8 -- Bihar director general of police (DGP) Vinay Kumar on Tuesday said that the cause of death of 11 persons in East Champaran was spurious liquor laced with methyl alcohol. This is the first time the police have admitted that liquor caused the deaths in the tragedy, even as the victims' viscera reports are awaited. Around 40 people fell ill last Wednesday evening. They were admitted to various hospitals in East Champaran, Muzaffarpur and Patna. The first death was reported on Thursday. Around 15 people are said to be under treatment at sadar hospital in East Champaran, with six of them reportedly having lost their eyesight. This is the third hooch incident reported from the state in 2026. The DGP said that seven FIRs have been registered with the Turkaulia, Raghunathpur, Piprakothi and Excise police stations against 13 named persons; eleven have been arrested and two surrendered before the court. During the investigation and raids, the police team recovered 50 jars (26 litres capacity) filled with 1,263 litres of spirit. These mentioned jars were labelled, "Super Power AW-68 Hydraulic Oil." Following the recovery of these jars, the Prohibition and State Narcotics Control Bureau (PSNCB) fears that the possibility of its supply and distribution in other districts cannot be ruled out. The state police have issued an alert about the discovery of such jars. "All range DIGs/IGs have been asked to collect intelligence, have the transport agency conduct surprise checks, and alert the police stations, chowkidars and dafadars. If spirit/liquor smugglers are identified, there are orders for immediate raids. All suspicious jars must be chemically tested," said ADG Amit Kumar Jain of PSNCB, who issued the alerts. He told HT that preliminary investigation suggested the spirit used in manufacturing spurious liquor was brought from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh under the pretext of using it as an industrial solvent. The ADG said that liquor smugglers Kanhaiya Kumar and Raja Kumar Rai are the prime accused in the case. Kanhaiya has surrendered along with his accomplice Sunil Shah and they are now under investigation for their interstate links. "They are being interrogated to determine where the spirit was ordered from and where it was distributed in the state," said a police officer. The officer added that action in the case will be expedited once the victims' viscera reports are available. East Champaran SP Swarn Prabhat told HT that within 24 hours of the incident, the police team had recovered the spirit used to make the poisonous liquor. The spirit gallon was illegally hidden in an irrigation drain near Salempur village in the Pipara Kothi police station area. The investigation made it clear that the gallon contained the spirit used to make poisonous liquor manufactured by liquor smugglers Kanhaiya and Raja. Experts say methyl alcohol converts into formaldehyde within the body, which destroys the eyes, lungs, and brain. It also causes immediate failure of the liver and kidneys....