Sellers sell the cheap alcohol to make huge profits to customers who cannot afford branded drinks.
At least 54 people have died and dozens remain hospitalized after drinking alcohol laced with methanol in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Nearly 200 people have been treated since Wednesday in Kallakurichi district, and more than 100 people are still receiving care in various hospitals.
Forty-eight men and six women succumbed to the tainted liquor as of Saturday and others were treated for symptoms including vomiting, stomach pains and diarrhea.
People regularly buy moonshine as few can afford branded spirits, sometimes leading to major casualty incidents as some sellers add methanol to increase the potency of their drink.
But methanol, a highly toxic chemical used for industrial purposes, can cause blindness, liver damage or death even in small amounts.
According to MS Prasanth, a senior district official, at least seven people have been arrested by authorities, who earlier said they also confiscated 200 liters (6,763 fluid ounces) of the illegally produced alcoholic beverage.
The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday said it had taken disciplinary action against 10 officials tasked with managing illegal liquor and was unable to prevent the incident.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced that the families of the victims and those hospitalized will receive financial compensation from the government. He also ordered a former High Court judge to investigate the incident.
State ministers and opposition leaders, who have criticized the government for failing to prevent mass poisonings, traveled to the district to meet the victims and their families.
A mass cremation of the deceased has already taken place and families celebrate the last rites side by side.
More than a dozen people were killed last year in a similar incident in a nearby district of Tamil Nadu. More than 120 people died in the northern state of Punjab in 2020.
In 2022, more than 30 people died in the eastern Indian state of Bihar and at least 28 died in the western state of Gujarat after drinking contaminated liquor sold without authorization.
