Yamunanagar | With the death of six more people, the death toll in a suspected case of poisoning due to the consumption of spurious liquor has jumped to 18 in Haryana, officials said on Saturday.

Six deaths were reported in Yamunanagar in the last 24 hours where earlier 10 people had died after having the suspicious liquor while two died in Ambala.

Yamunanagar Additional Superintendent of Police Himadree Kaushik on Saturday said, On the basis of information which we have, a total of 16 people have died in the district so far.

She said seven people have already been arrested in this case.

During questioning, names of some more people have come up and they will soon be arrested, the officer said.

We have visited villages and informed villagers about this unfortunate incident, she said.

Police have asked villagers not to consume liquor whose source of procurement they were unaware of.

Opposition parties Congress, AAP and INLD have targeted the Khattar government over deaths due to suspected spurious liquor and said it has failed to learn lessons from previous incidents.

The deaths so far have taken place in Mandebari, Panjeto Ka Majra, Phoosgarh and Saran villages of Yamunanagar.

The Yamunanagar police formed a special investigation team to probe the matter.

Meanwhile, Haryana cabinet minister Kanwar Pal said the guilty in this case will not be spared and strict action will be taken against them.

Police investigation in the matter was underway, he said.