Officials probing death of 16 persons in Jangareddygudem

KAKINADA: More than 16 persons have lost their lives in recent days allegedly due to consumption of illicit arrack in Jangareddygudem area of West Godavari district, reports said on Friday.

Teams of the Revenue, Police, Excise, and Special Enforcement Bureau rushed to Jangareddygudem and started an inquiry into the cause of the deaths. West Godavari SP Rahul Sarma visited the spot and made preliminary inquiries.

Police said Mudicherla Venkata Nagalakshmi of Jangareddigudem has lodged a complaint with the police after she came to know of the death of her husband Appa Rao (46). His body was buried on Thursday. She alleged that her husband died due to consumption of contaminated arrack.

The police would dig out the body and send it for post-mortem on Saturday.

Telugu Desam leaders visited the area and alleged that the ruling party men were producing spurious arrack. According to some of the victim families, their bread winners died due to consumption of contaminated or spurious arrack.

“The government should curb the flow of arrack in Jangareddygudem and in the vicinity. My husband Chidram Posaiah used to work in a shop and was a habitual drinker. Due to the hike in the prices of liquor, he took to arrack. On March 8, he came home and had loose motion, vomiting and severe stomach pain. He was taken to the local hospital in Jangareddygudem where died the same day,’’ said his wife Purna.

She said her family has been orphaned and she was without employment or a house. Her son said that when he went to school that day, his father was seen in a drunken state. “Do not drink,” he had told his father. “These were my last words to my father,” he said, adding that when he returned from school, his father was already dead in the hospital.

Meanwhile, RDO Prasanna Lakshmi told Deccan Chronicle that the deaths occurred on different days and for different reasons. She visited some of the families of the deceased and collected information about the deaths. “Some of these deaths were due to the age factor and due to post-Covid complications,” she said.

However, she said three of the dead were habitual drinkers. A report has been submitted to the West Godavari district collector Prasanna Venkatesh.

Municipal commissioner of Jangareddygudem Sravan Kumar said 16 persons died from March 8 to 10 due to various reasons, out of which two died due to their drunken habit.