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Families of Kallakurichi victims shattered, question availability of hooch
The death toll in the hooch tragedy in Kallakurichi district of Tamil Nadu increased to 38 on Thursday while over 100 people remained hospitalised, officials said, as the incident triggered a political row with the opposition AIADMK attacking the DMK government and demanding the resignation of chief minister MK Stalin over the tragedy.
The death toll in the hooch tragedy in Kallakurichi district of Tamil Nadu increased to 38 on Thursday while over 100 people remained hospitalised, officials said, as the incident triggered a political row with the opposition AIADMK attacking the DMK government and demanding the resignation of chief minister MK Stalin over the tragedy.
Stalin held a high-level review meeting with senior officials over the hooch tragedy and announced a judicial probe into the incident by forming a one-man commission of retired Madras high court judge B Gokuldas. The retired judge has also been asked to recommend measures to prevent such tragedies in the future and file a report within three months.
Most of the victims consumed the spurious liquor, sold as packet arrack, at Karunapuram village in Kallakurichi on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, as the illicit liquor, allegedly mixed with toxic methanol, started taking effect, many people complained of vomiting, dizziness and sudden loss of vision and hearing, officials said.
While some of them died at their houses, many were rushed to the Kallakurichi Government Medical College Hospital as well as hospitals in Salem, Tiruvannamalai and Puducherry.
“Thirty-eight people have died and more than 100 are undergoing treatment in four different hospitals,” state’s public works minister EV Velu told reporters.
Dr Rakesh Aggarwal, director of Puducherry-based Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), in a statement said on Wednesday the hospital received 19 patients, three of whom were brought dead while the remaining 16 were seriously ill.
“All the patients are being provided the best possible care by inter-disciplinary teams of doctors in the hospital as per the requirements of the patients and they are also being closely monitored,” the statement said, adding that at least 10 patients required urgent ventilatory support and they continue to remain critically ill.
Four people have been arrested so far in connection with the case that has been handed over to the state police’s Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID), which started its probe on Thursday by constituting five teams, a senior police officer said.
Following the incident, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led state government transferred district collector Sravan Kumar Jatavath and suspended superintendent of police (SP) Samay Singh Meena as well as the entire prohibition wing in the district. On Thursday, MS Prasanth took charge as the district collector and Rajat Chaturvedi as the new SP.
“We will look into the police connivance, if any,” Chaturvedi told reporters after taking charge as the SP.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu assembly session began on Thursday by paying respects to the people who died after consuming spurious liquor in Kallakurichi.
Mourning the deaths, Stalin in a statement said: “A thorough investigation will be done. I have directed the police to find the source of the supply for methanol (used by the accused) to contaminate it in the liquor.”
He also announced ₹10 lakh ex gratia for the family of the deceased and ₹50,000 for those being treated in the hospital.
AIADMK general secretary and leader of the opposition Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS), who skipped the assembly session to meet the families of the victims in Kallakurichi, demanded Stalin’s resignation.
“This incident has happened in a core location within Kallakurichi very close to a police station and a court. We have received information that there is a huge mafia behind this,” EPS told reporters. “DMK is behind illicit liquor sales in Tamil Nadu. Stalin should resign since there is mismanagement and many deaths.”
The AIADMK also moved the Madras high court seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The court is likely to hear the application on Friday.
Attacking the DMK government, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state chief K Annamalai demanded the resignation of state’s prohibition and excise minister, S Muthusamy. He said the party will meet Union home minister Amit Shah to transfer the probe to CBI.
“At the very least prohibition minister S Muthusamy must resign because his job is to prevent manufacturing of illicit liquor,” Annamalai told reporters after meeting families of the victim undergoing treatment in Kallakurichi. “The minister has to take responsibility for the failure of the entire DMK government.”
Actor Vijay, who has floated the Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam, also visited those undergoing treatment in the hospital.
