In absence of liquor in Tirupati, 4 people die after consuming hand sanitiser

YSR Congress party MLA from Tirupati Bhumana Karunakar Reddy visited the hospital and called on the family members of the four victims at the mortuary.

With the Andhra Pradesh police investigating the death of 10 people, who had consumed hand sanitiser in Prakasam district last month, four more persons died in a similar manner in the temple town of Tirupati on Friday.

The victims – Veeraiah, Kumaraswamy, Venkataratnam and Srinivasulu – belonging to Scavengers’ Colony in Tirupati town succumbed at the SVRR government general hospital, where they were admitted by their relatives on Thursday evening. (HT FILE PHOTO.)

The victims – Veeraiah, Kumaraswamy, Venkataratnam and Srinivasulu – belonging to Scavengers’ Colony in Tirupati town succumbed at the SVRR government general hospital, where they were admitted by their relatives on Thursday evening.

“The family members told us that they were addicted to liquor consumption and might have consumed sanitiser as they could not get liquor due to lockdown being in force in the town. We are awaiting the forensic report to get the confirmation whether they had consumed only hand sanitiser or something else,” Tirupati (urban) superintendent of police A Ramesh Reddy told Hindustan Times.

He, however, said the four victims were in no way connected to one another and they were isolated incidents. “There are three dealers supplying hand sanitisers in the town and there is no evidence of all the four buying the liquid from the same shop and consuming it together. Yet, we are investigating into the incident,” Reddy said.

Tirupati East police have registered a case under Section 176 of Criminal Procedure Code (suspicious death).

YSR Congress party MLA from Tirupati Bhumana Karunakar Reddy visited the hospital and called on the family members of the four victims at the mortuary. “It is unfortunate that four people had consumed sanitiser for intoxication. It is very dangerous to consume such liquids. I request the people not to get addicted to liquor,” Reddy said.

Ten people had died of consuming alcohol-based sanitiser at Kurichedu town in Prakasam district in a span of two days in the last week of July. Most of them are poor people and three of them are beggars.

Following the incident, the state government cracked down on sanitiser makers, illegal liquor shops and spurious liquor manufacturers. The Special Enforcement Bureau authorities conducted surprise raids on these units and identified 345 places where spurious liquor was being made. Cases have been booked against 76 companies which were involved in making of hand sanitiser without licences.

“The police also identified 144 people who were consuming hand sanitisers and counselled them,” a senior police official said.