TN hooch tragedy: death toll climbs to 23, two more arrested
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Chennai: The Tamil Nadu hooch tragedy has claimed another life in Villupuram district’s Marakkanam Taluk on Sunday, bringing the total death toll to 23.
The deceased has been identified as K Kanniappan (58), who succumbed to his injuries during treatment at the Government Villupuram Medical College Hospital.
On 15 May, Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) C Sylendra Babu issued a statement that 1,558 persons had been detained in the last two days and 1,842 cases had been filed in relation to the two incidents.
The case was later transferred to CB-CID.
In a significant development, the special team of police investigating the case has identified two additional suspects, namely Prem Kumar (54) from Vellore and Vengatachalapathy (40) from Perambai in Villupuram district. The police promptly took them into custody for further investigation, reports The News Minute.
The state police had earlier arrested chemical engineer Ilaya Nambi, employed by a private company in Chennai's Vanagaram, for allegedly selling industrial methanol to Ezhumalai, an agent involved in the distribution of illicit alcohol.
Ezhumalai, in turn, had added the toxic substance to illicit alcohol and distributed it to unsuspecting people in Villupuram and Chengalpattu.
The police have also arrested Amaran, a liquor salesman from Odiyur in Chengalpattu, Ammavasai who is the brother of a DMK councillor from Kancheepuram, and Vijayakumar, Chengalpattu's BJP functionary in connection with this case, The News Minute reported.
The FIR was revised by the Tamil Nadu police on 17 May and section 302 of the IPC was lodged, which includes attempted murder charges against the defendants.
The hooch tragedy claimed 22 lives in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram and Chengalpattu districts earlier this week, according to police.
The BJP staged massive protests across Tamil Nadu on Saturday against the hooch tragedy and condemned the alleged increasing culture of illicit liquor addiction in the State.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, BJP State President, K Annamalai, met with Governor RN Ravi to seek the removal of Minorities Welfare Minister Gingee Mastan, and Minister for Electricity, Prohibition & Excise Senthil Balaji, alleging that they are responsible for the deaths.
Annamalai raised serious allegations against the Stalin-led DMK government and submitted a memorandum to RN Ravi claiming that since May 2021, there has been a spike in the increase of Drug and Alcohol abuse-related cases like never before in Tamil Nadu.
In the memorandum that was submitted to the Tamil Nadu governor, Annamalai had also alleged that the suspect arrested in Chengalpattu related to the hooch tragedy is the brother of the DMK’s local unit vice president.
He charged that Maruvoor Raja, who has been involved in the illegal alcohol trade, has frequently appeared along with DMK minister Mastan.
Stating that Senthil Balaji's main duty as the state's minister of prohibition and excise is to reduce illegal alcohol use, Annamalai further claimed that despite his official responsibilities to curb the illicit trade in the state, Balaji appears committed to raising TASMAC's revenue.
