Kerala hooch toll up to 23

The death toll in the Malappuram hooch tragedy rose to 23 with five more persons succumbing to the effects of the spurious liquor on Tuesday. Around 200 persons from various parts of Malappuram who had had the spurious toddy over the last two days rushed to hospitals for treatment. Police said that the condition of 15 of them was critical and that some of them had already lost their vision.

The state government had failed to alert the people in the area by telling people to avoid toddy in Malappuram or confiscate the spurious toddy stock. Senior CPM leader and Excise Minister P K Gurudasan on Tuesday ordered closure of all toddy outlets in Malappuram. Two senior officials from the district were placed under suspension and the state police has ordered an investigation into the tragedy. Forensic surgeons,who conducted postmortem on the bodies,confirmed the presence of methyl alcohol in the toddy consumed by the victims.

Opposition leader Oommen Chandy said the hooch tragedy was a fallout of the nexus among the ruling parties,spirit mafia and the excise officials. He said the previous Congress government had closed down several toddy outlets as the state could not meet the supply of toddy tapped from coconut. The Left government had reopened all such outlets to enable the sale of spurious toddy which led to the present tragedy,he said.