Probe revealed the trio had consumed some medicine as a replacement of alcohol. (Representational)
Three persons died after allegedly consuming an alcohol-based homeopathy medicine as a substitute for liquor in Chhattisgarh capital Raipur, police said on Sunday.
The deaths occurred on May 7, but its cause came to light on Sunday after an investigation was carried out based on the autopsy report of one of the victims, said RK Mishra, station house officer (SHO) of Civil Lines police station in Raipur.
The victims were identified as Manish Verma (37), Dalvir Singh Parmar (25) and Balvindar Singh (29), all residents of Pandri area in Raipur, he said.
"On May 7, Verma died at his home, while two others died during treatment at Dr BR Ambedkar Memorial Hospital on the same day," he said.
Suspecting that Verma died of COVID-19, his family performed his final rites, Mr Mishra said.
"However, the autopsy report of Singh indicated that he died due to unknown alcoholic poisoning, while Paramar due to a heart attack, following which police launched a probe," he said.
The investigation revealed that the trio had consumed some homeopathy medicine together as a replacement of alcohol, following which their condition deteriorated, the SHO said, adding that it was yet to be ascertained which medicine they had consumed.
Further probe into the matter is underway.
In a similar incident, nine persons had died in a village in Bilaspur district of the state between May 4 and 6 after allegedly consuming an alcohol-based homeopathy syrup as replacement for liquor, police had said.
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