The death toll from a case of mass poisoning involving home-brewed alcohol in the western Indian state of Gujarat has risen to 43, a report said on Thursday.

The number of the dead rose from 25 on Wednesday. The Press Trust of India quoted police Director General S.S. Khandwawala as saying another 29 were seriously ill in hospital after consuming the contaminated liquor at a party on Sunday.

Khandwawala said two police officers in the state's largest city of Ahmedabad had been suspended and transferred for failing to crack down on illegal distilleries.

Police were searching for a man suspected to have provided the toxic alcohol and were also questioning more than 100 bootleggers in the city.

The state's home minister on Wednesday announced an inquiry into the easy availability of bootleg liquor in the region.

Selling and consuming alcohol is a criminal offence in Gujarat, India's only dry state and the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, but deaths from cheap alcohol are frequent throughout the country, especially among the poor.

AFP

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