Bangalore/Hosur, May 20 (IANS) At least 100 people, 45 of them in Bangalore, have died in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu after drinking spurious liquor Sunday, police said Tuesday. As authorities raided several villages on the outskirts of Bangalore in search of dens brewing the killer liquor, around 25 deaths were reported from new areas around the Karnataka capital like Hosakote, Anekal and Bangarpet in Kolar district.

With the toll in Kolar, 68 kms from here, touching 29 and 16 people dying in neighbouring Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district, over 100 have so far lost their lives and more people were being admitted to government hospitals in Bangalore Tuesday, police officials said.

Material to brew thousands of litres of spurious liquor have been destroyed in overnight raids in six villages on Bangalore’s outskirts, police and excise officials said.

The state government, meanwhile, has increased the compensation for the kin of the dead to Rs.50,000 from Rs.10,000 announced Monday.

P.K.H. Tharakan, adviser to Karnataka governor, Tuesday met senior police and excise officials and discussed steps to be taken to contain the spread of the tragedy and measures to trace and destroy the dens where spurious liquor is manufactured.

Bangalore police have arrested six people but the vendor who sold the brew in Devara Jeevana Halli, the worst affected area, is absconding.

The tragedy began Sunday afternoon in Kolar and Krishnagiri districts and by evening it had hit Devera Jeevana Halli. Five deaths were reported soon after many people consumed the spurious liquor in the area in Bangalore at around 8.30 p.m. Sunday.

Apart from the dead, many were said to be in a serious condition and on the verge of losing their eyesight, doctors in Bangalore and Hosur hospitals said.

Major political parties, engaged in campaigning for the third and last phase of Karnataka assembly polls Thursday, have now begun blaming one another for the tragedy.