NEW DELHI: In a shocking incident in Assam, country made illicit liquor has taken the lives of at least four persons and has left as many as 98 others in a very critical state.

In Assam’s Jorhat district, while four persons have died, 98 others including 25 children, are battling for their lives after they consumed prohibited liquor on Tuesday night.

Informing this, Jorhat Superintendent of Police (SP) Amanjeet Kaur said that all the people are tea garden labourers of the Dholi Tea Estate, adding that they complained of stomach ache and vomiting on Tuesday night soon after the consumption of country liquor which was being sold illegally inside the garden.

After being taken to a local hospital initially, the people were then referred to the Jorhat Medical College Hospital (JMCH) where one person was declared brought dead and two others died during the night, the police informed further. Another woman dies in the hospital on Wednesday.

JMCH Superintendent Nilutpal Bhattacharjee stated that the condition of the remaining 98 persons was still critical. Out of these 98 people, while 25 are children below the age of 15, as many as 27 are women.

The police informed that three arrests have been made so far for allegedly selling country liquor without a license inside the garden while the search is still on.