# Bhavnagar hooch death toll rises to 13, probe widens 2026-08-23T10:11:55+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets Two more patients died in the Bhavnagar spurious liquor case, taking the toll to 13. Officials said 67 people had consumed the liquor, which contained methanol. Three others remain in hospital. Police have arrested 13 of the 21 accused named in the FIR. The victims consumed liquor packed in bottles carrying a popular IMFL brand name. The Forensic Science Laboratory report found the liquor contained 38.59 per cent methanol and 0.94 per cent ethanol. The investigation has been handed over to the Gujarat Police State Monitoring Cell. The liquor was allegedly prepared at the house of Gautam Solanki in Vartej with help from Raees, detained in Ujjain. Teams have been sent to Madhya Pradesh and Delhi to trace the raw material supply. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both India Today and Hindustan Times report the same facts with straight wire-style framing, attributing all details to officials. There is no critical or sensational slant: neither outlet questions the state's prohibition policy or the enforcement gaps that allowed methanol-laced liquor to circulate. The uniform neutral-report stance means a careful reader can trust the concrete numbers (13 dead, 67 consumers, 38.59 per cent methanol) but should note the absence of opposition or activist comment. What to watch: whether the State Monitoring Cell's probe leads to arrests of higher-level suppliers, and whether any civil liability action follows against the IMFL brand whose labels were counterfeited. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - indiatoday.in (neutral report) Led with rising toll and probe details, no editorialising. - hindustantimes.com (neutral report) Wire-style factual reporting, all information attributed to officials. This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-23T11:41:10+00:00. Tags: Bhavnagar, Gujarat, methanol, State Monitoring Cell, Vartej police station Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/gujarat-hooch-tragedy-toll-reaches-13-probe-widens/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/gujarat-hooch-tragedy-toll-reaches-13-probe-widens/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/