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The death toll in two separate hooch tragedies in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram and Chengalpattu districts over the weekend has gone up to 14, Chief Minister M K Stalin said Monday as he transferred the case to the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID).
Addressing the media after visiting those undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital at Mundiyampakkam in Villupuram, Stalin said the government would take stringent action against the culprits.
“Several who consumed spurious liquor at Ekkiyarkuppam fishing hamlet near Marakkanam in Villupuram district fell sick. As soon as the incident came to the government’s notice, it took measures to send them to the government hospital in Mundiyampakkam, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) and Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and provide them with the requisite treatment. Till now, nine people have died (in Villupuram) after failing to respond to the treatment, and 40 others are currently undergoing treatment at Mundiyampakkam, three at the JIPMER and one at the PIMS. I have asked the doctors to provide them with the best treatment possible,” he said.
The chief minister noted that a similar tragedy had occurred at the Perukaranai village in the Chengalpattu district, where five people died, and seven others are undergoing treatment.
Stalin said as per the initial investigation, the victims consumed industrial methanol-mixed liquor. In some areas, the illicit liquor was poured into liquor bottles of state-owned TASMAC, said officials.
The police have arrested two people and suspended seven police personnel in connection with the hooch tragedies. Stalin said the government would take all steps possible to arrest the rest of the culprits.
The chief minister said from his public relief fund, families of the dead would receive Rs 10 lakh each and those undergoing treatment would get Rs 50,000 each.
Meanwhile, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said he was deeply saddened by the incident and alleged that law and order was in dire straits.
Edappadi said reports about the peddling of illicit liquor appeared in the media and if the government had been alert, the deaths could have been prevented. “Stalin has to take complete responsibility for the tragedy and resign his chief minister post,” he added. The AIADMK leader said he would visit those undergoing treatment Tuesday.
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