Bhopal, Jan. 3 -- State machinery took cognisance, and action, on reports of people falling ill due to contaminated water in a locality in Indore on December 29, by when it had been at least four days since residents raised alarm and three people had died, according to a status report submitted by the state government to the Madhya Pradesh high court on Friday.

The status report claimed that only four deaths were caused by the contaminated water in the Bhagirathpura area and does not reveal the cause or source of the diarrhoeal illness. Indore's Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava on Friday said 10 people died due to the contamination. Residents have blamed the contamination on sewage leaking into a potable water line.

The report, ordered by the...