Kallakurichi Hooch Tragedy | AIADMK Lawyers Move Madras High Court Seeking CBI Enquiry Into Deaths Of 35 People From Illicit Liquor

When the matter was urgently mentioned before the bench of Justice D Krishnakumar and Justice K Kumaresh Babu, the bench agreed to hear the matter on 21^st June, Friday.

On 19^th June 2024, a group of people started experiencing symptoms including loss of breath, blurred vision, and giddiness after consuming spurious liquor from a vendor in Karunapuram, as per reports. The lab reports later revealed that the liquor was mixed with methanol.

I.S. Inbadurai, the Legal wing secretary of AIADMK, in his petition, submitted that to date more than 200 innocents had been hospitalized. He pointed out that while the sale of illicit arrack is an offence as per the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act 1937, it has seen tremendous growth in Tamil Nadu from the year 2021.

Inbadurai argued that the government in the state was not taking any proper action to prohibit the sale of illicit arrack. He added that it was the government's primary duty to take appropriate and stringent action against persons involved in the sale of illicit arrack but the entire station machinery had failed to look into the matter seriously or prevent the same.

He added that even after repeated requests from the local public and the Kallakurichi MLA, the state government had failed to prevent illicit sales. He also alleged that the state government was hand in glove with the sale and the police were also aiding the same.

Thus, claiming that the state government had failed to take appropriate steps, he urged the court to direct the state and DGP to transfer and hand over the investigation to the CBI.

Case Title: IS Inbadurai v The Chief Secretary, Govt of Tamil Nadu