Kanpur: Angry over the death of a man, who had allegedly consumed country-made liquor purchased from a government outlet, a mob of villagers including women and children set afire the outlet in Madarpur village of Maharajpur on Thursday, prompting police to beef up security at liquor vends across the district.The incident comes soon after the Ghatampur hooch tragedy, which has so far claimed seven lives.Police said condition of Chandrashekhar, who had consumed liquor on Wednesday night, deteriorated on Thursday. He was rushed to GSVM Medical College but could not be saved.The mob hurled stones and bricks and damaged the liquor shop before setting it afire. The staff of the shop had fled after locking it when they saw the protesters approaching. “We have made additional deployment of police in the area and investigations are underway,” said SP (rural) Pradyumna Singh.SSP Anant Deo said that Chandrashekhar was rushed to the medical collage in a critical state. “He could not be saved. His body has been sent for postmortem to ascertain whether he died due to consumption of ‘spurious’ liquor,” he added.SHO Maharajpur said: “The liquor shop was in operation with valid licence issued by the excise department. However, local people registered protest soon after news of death of a village man spread in the area. Patrolling has been beefed up at the village to prevent possible breach of peace.”Bina Devi, a housewife, said, “This shop has claimed life of our fellow villager. The authorities should immediately shift it from here, else we would not allow the contractor to run the shop.”Mahesh, a village youth, said, “As per family members, Chandrashekhar had purchased liquor from the same shop. The shop should be shifted from here immediately.”

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