Residents of Foreshore Estate blame deaths on TASMAC shop

Chennai: Tension prevailed in Foreshore Estate after the news of the twin deaths caused by a robber spread among the residents of the locality, who resorted to a road roko demanding immediate removal of the TASMAC liquor shop. The midnight road-roko of Monday culminated in the residents’ siege of the Foreshore Estate Police station, which was settled only after the intervention of senior police officials who promised to look into their request.

The protesters charged that Karunakaran had consumed liquor only in the TASMAC liquor shop located adjacent to the Foreshore Estate bus stand. The protestors asserted that Karunakaran decided to rob the women only because he wanted more money for booze. A police posse was deployed from Tuesday morning in Foreshore Estate to keep the simmering tension under control.

The residents and relatives returned to the streets later in the morning and they wanted that the TASMAC shop should not be opened for business. The cops assured them that the shop would not be opened for business on Tuesday, as a temporary measure. Additional force to guard the shop was also deployed. The Mylapore DCP, who was shuttling between Foreshore Estate and the Government Royapettah Hospital, pacified the protesters, who came out in a wave of protests. The last wave of protests was launched by the kith and kin when the body was brought back from the GRH morgue. “The TASMAC shop is the primary reason due to which my daughter lost her life. We do not want the liquor shop here,” Vadivel, father of the deceased Nandhini, told DC.