Toxic moonshine kills 99 in Mumbai slum

Toxic moonshine has killed 99 people and seriously sickened scores of others of drinkers from a Mumbai slum, Indian police say.
Forty-six others have
been hospitalized, with many in a critical condition, after consuming the illegal homebrew, Mumbai police spokesman Dhananjay Kulkarni told CNN.

Authorities said four men and two women had been booked over the deaths, on charges including culpable homicide, poisoning and abetting a crime.

Eight local police have also been suspended for negligence over the deaths, he said.

An Indian woman breaks down as she sees the dead body of a family member, a victim of toxic home-made liquor.
An Indian woman breaks down as she sees the dead body of a family member, a victim of toxic home-made liquor.
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The incident took place near Laxmi Nagar, a large slum in Mumbai, India's financial capital.

Deaths from cheap, illegally brewed liquor -- often containing toxic methanol -- are not uncommon in India.

More than 160 people died from drinking a bad batch of moonshine in West Bengal in 2011, while in January, at least 25 people died and 125 were hospitalized after drinking illegal homebrew in Uttar Pradesh.

Drinking 'to cope'
There were dramatic scenes in Laxmi Nagar slum Monday as the body of another victim was returned to his family.

Loud wails could be heard from the crowd of about 200 people who had gathered to see the body of Satyavel Nagan Kawander brought home.

Kawander, a 35-year-old day laborer, left behind a wife and three children under the age of 11, they said.

Many men in the desperately poor slum work as day laborers, separating garbage or cleaning gutters, earning 50 -- 100 rupees ($0.78-$1.57) a day, locals told CNN.

Uma Ramchandra Harijan lost her father to the toxic moonshine and her husband is battling for his life.
Uma Ramchandra Harijan lost her father to the toxic moonshine and her husband is battling for his life.
They tended to drink to cope with the stresses of their jobs dealing with garbage or human sewage, said Uma Ramchandra Harijan, whose husband, a gutter cleaner, drank the moonshine and is now battling for his life.

"They have to drink to get rid of the smell, to numb their senses," she said.

Harijan, who has a son, 3, and a 15-day-old daughter, also lost her father to the illegal moonshine.

Locals pointed out two houses in the slum they said the local bootleggers operated from; both were closed Monday.