A calamity that came without any warning

Chennai: The latest calamity that has plunged Karunapuram of Kallakurichi district in deep distress and left the rest of the State in total shock came without any warning as the local people did not realize that Kannukutty alias Govindarajan, their resident arrack supplier, was actually dispensing poison to his patrons on Wednesday.

Though some people took ill in the morning itself and were writhing in stomach pain, no alarm was raised on the possibility of Kannkutty’s arrack sachets being the culprit. When more people were admitted to hospital, too, the authorities were trying to say that those patients suffered from health problems, which did not prevent more people calling on Kannukutti.

In fact, some relatives who came to see those who had suddenly taken ill had their rendezvous with Kannukutty before taking the sick men to hospital without knowing the real cause of the ailment. Though warning of the local hooch turning poison was floating, the district collector dispelled those ‘rumours’ that send more people to Kannukutty' s den.

The outlet of Kannukutti in Karunapuram is familiar to everyone in the locality, as some women who spoke to television channels said, and had been functioning without any interruption for at least two decades. Once in a while police will pick up the man and even incarcerate him under Goondas Act but the outlet would not be closed.

When the man of the house goes to jail, his wife, Vijaya, will take his place or his brother, Damodaran, will preside over the business. Kannukutty, too, will not be away for too long. As a woman told a television channel that he was rather invincible with the police turning a deaf ear to any complaint by the local people against him.

He also had the uncanny knack of keeping local politicians, whoever was elected for posts, in good humour, which gave him a certain immunity for the law. After the Lok Sabha elections, he put up a flex board congratulating the victorious DMK candidate from Kallakurichi constituency, Malaiarasan, and the board was there till the hooch tragedy broke out on Wednesday, said PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss.

A wide range of local people patronized Kannukutti, who procured arrack from the slopes of Kalvarayan Hills where it was distilled by gangs of bootleggers or sourced it from Puducherry. He will keep the drink readily packed in sachets, selling one for Rs 40 or 50 depending on its efficacy.

People went to him and not the local TASMAC shops mainly because the arrack came cheap. For a quarter bottle of inexpensive spirit sold in the government shops one would have to shell out more than double the amount that Kannukutty would charge. Then, TASMAC shops open only at 12 noon and close at 10 pm. Kannukutty has no time restrictions for his business.

To put it otherwise, Kannukutti business, however illicit it might be, was part of the local community with no one actually taking any effort to close it down. So, his patrons least expected him to serve them drinks that can kill, maim, blind and turn them deaf. How the methanol got mixed in the arrack will be the mystery unravelled only after the investigations are over. For the people, it was a good service that unexpectedly went wrong.