Chennai: At least three persons were killed and 23 others admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Kallakurichi on Wednesday after they reportedly consumed illicit arrack mixed with methanol and supplied in sachets at Karunapuram in the district, an official press release said.
Several people from the locality were getting admitted to the hospital complaining of stomach pain and other symptoms and 18 of them had been shifted to JIPMER hospital in Puducherry for emergency treatment and six others transferred to Salem government hospital, the release said, adding that 26 persons were admitted to the Kallakurichi hospital and three of them died.
The bootlegger Govindaraj alias Kannukutty, who sold the arrack, was arrested and 200 litres of illicit arrack was seized from him. The liquor was sent to the regional forensic lab in Villupuram, where it was found that the arrack had been laced with methanol, which is a poisonous substance.
Earlier in the day, the incident triggered a controversy following a denial from the district collector Sravan Kumar Jataveth, who was later transferred out, that it was not a hooch tragedy but a case of some persons afflicted with diarrhea and fits and the police saying that nothing could be said about the cause unless the post mortem report was received.
A report was also circulated that the deaths were caused because the victims consumed methanol despite Leaders of Opposition Parties coming out with statements condoling those who died in the hooch tragedy at Karunapuram in Kallakurichi district and accusing the State government of ineptitude.
Special teams of doctors from the Villupuram Government hospital, Salem and Tiruvannamalai had been deputed to Kallakurichi to deal with the emergency situation there, the press release said. While Shravan Kumar Jataveth had been shifted out of the district and M S Prasanth appointed in his place, the superintendent of Police Samay Singh Meena was suspended and Rajath Chatruvedi appointed in his place.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Edappadi K Palaniswami, claimed that 5 persons were killed, while PMK founder S Ramadoss and BJP State leader K Annamalai flayed the government for the incident.
Referring to the official version that it was a case of methanol poisoning and not hooch, Palaniswami, in message on X, said that such polemics should not be employed in a tragedy that involved the lives of people and whatever term was used for illicit liquor it should be eliminated.
Ramadoss, who put the death toll at three, named the victims as Suresh, Praveen and Sekar and condemned the State government for failing to curb illicit liquor in the State. He said that the Kalvarayan Hills had become a hub for round the clock hooch trade.
Urging the Chief Minister M K Stalin to take responsibility for the tragedy by compensating the victims’ families for their loss and taking care of the medical expenses of those in hospital, Ramadoss, in a statement, said that there were three types of liquor that needed to be done away with.
One was the government approved liquor sold through TASMAC outlets, two was the liquor sold by evading excise duty through many bars and in nook and crannies and three was the illicit liquor.
Annamalai, in a press conference, wondered what the Chief Minister M Karunanidhi would say about the incident as he had tried to justify the earlier hooch tragedy a year ago in Marakkanam and Madurantakam localities by saying that it was happening after a gap of 18 years. He demanded the resignation of the State Minister for Prohibition charging him with only looking after TASMAC sales.
He alleged that illicit liquor was flowing freely all over the incident and said that the government had not learnt any lessons after 22 persons were killed last year. Accusing another State Minister to be in cahoots with the bootlegging mafia, he wanted the removal of the Ministers who were responsible for the illicit trade continuing unabated in the State.
Annamalai also posted on his X page a video showing a woman weeping inconsolably saying that a woman narrating how her husband died due to hooch and also saying that no other person should die in that fashion.
