The Hindu : Front Page : Illicit brew claims 8 lives near Hosur

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 19, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Illicit brew claims 8 lives near Hosur

S. Prasad

4 hospitalised; many of the victims daily wage labourers

— Photo: N. Bhaskaran

BATTLING FOR LIFE: A person who had consumed illicit brew being rushed to the Hosur Government Hospital on Sunday.

Hosur: Eight persons, including three elderly women, died and four others were hospitalised after consuming illicit brew at Binnamangalam near here on Saturday.

The victims had consumed the killer brew from an outlet reportedly operated by Parvathi at Binnamangalam.

At least 20 persons were feared to have consumed the brew from the outlet. The deceased were identified as Akkaiya (50), Ellammal (55), Chinnamuniammal (50), Narayanappa (40), Chinnappa (50), Krishnappa (68) of Thinnamangalam, Karim (40) and Madappa (60) of Devaganapalli.

Ramareddy (50), Padigappa (45), Chinnappa (45) and Muniraj (50) of Binnamangalam are battling for life at Hosur Government Hospital.

A majority of the victims were daily wage labourers and had consumed the killer brew on Saturday night. Soon after midnight, Ellamal died and by early morning the remaining were declared dead. The brew was reportedly supplied by bootleggers on the Karnataka side.

The bodies were taken to the Denkanikottai Government Hospital for post-mortem.

A formal confirmation on the source of the brew is awaited.

Tension prevailed at the Denkanikottai Government Hospital, when the relatives of victims and cadres of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi refused to accept the bodies after post-mortem. The cadres urged the government to provide compensation to the victims’ families.

In 2005, six persons died after consuming illicit liquor at Kelamangalam. As many as 41 persons died in similar tragedy at Shoolagiri in Krishnagiri district in August 21, 1998.

According to a senior police official, the entire region of Kallupalli in Karnataka, situated about 18 km from Hosur, is involved in distillation of illicit arrack.

The brew is transported in sachets to select customers.

Source in Karnataka

The porous border with the neighbouring State enables bootleggers to easily smuggle the brew into Tamil Nadu. Villages on the inter-State border have become notorious for illicit liquor brewing, which target poor labourers, he said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page