New Delhi - The death toll among people who drank illegally brewed toxic liquor rose to 30 on Thursday in India's eastern state of Orissa, media reports said.
The victims, mostly workers and farmers, fell ill on Tuesday in the Cuttack and Khordha districts after drinking the brew spiked with drugs used to treat coughs and colds, the IANS news agency reported.
Six more people died since Wednesday evening, bringing the death toll to 30, state official SN Girish told the IANS.
He said about 50 people were being treated at a state-run hospital in Cuttack. The toll might not rise further because the victims were recovering, Girish said.
Government authorities said villagers had substituted a medicine cocktail for alcohol, which caused the deaths, the report said.
Police launched investigations and arrested 10 people.
Many deaths are reported from the consumption of moonshine in India. Nearly 200 people have died since December after drinking illicit alcohol in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh states. - Sapa-dpa