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Spurious liquor claims 13 lives in Kerala

Eleven persons died on Sunday at Kalluvathukkal and two at Kottarakkara in Kollam district of Kerala after consuming hooch.

The death toll at Kalluvathukkal is likely to rise since many of the 105 persons admitted to the Trivandrum Medical College Hospital after consuming the poisonous brew are in a serious condition.

The victims had the hooch on Saturday night and Sunday morning from an unauthorised outlet on the National Highway at Kalluvathukkal under Paripally police station limits. Industrial alcohol is suspected to have been be mixed with the brew.

Chief Minister E K Nayanar, who visited the hospital, announced the constitution of joint team of police and excise officials to fight the spurious liquor menace.

The outlet was run by Hairunisa alias Tatha and her husband Rajan. Tatha was involved in several cases of selling spurious liquor. Incidentally, the tragedy occurred barely a few days after she was let out on bail in another case.

Earlier, she had been sentenced to six years' imprisonment in another case of selling spurious liquor that led to the death of two persons, according to police sources.

Police said that Tatha and her husband have disappeared following reports of the deaths. Their outlet, functioning for several years now, catered to both poor and rich customers. The latter were served costly liquor in air-conditioned rooms, said Kumar (35) who was one of those who visited the outlet on Saturday.

Kumar had rushed to the hospital after he heard about the deaths. He had vomited and felt dizzy after he consumed the liquor.

Balakrishna Kurup suffered from a headache and pain in his eyes despite having only a small quantity of the brew. Those who consumed heavily are in a serious condition, he added.

Hospital sources said that blindness, vomiting and headache were what the victims complained of. The Medical College hospital has constituted a special cell, under the supervision of hospital superintendent Dr Kesvankutty, to handle the crisis.

The spurious liquor trade started thriving in Kerala following the ban on country liquor, called arrack. Cases of people falling victim to spurious liquor have been coming up at frequent intervals ever since arrack was banned in 1996 by the then Congress-led government headed by A K Antony.

However, a tragedy of this dimension is the first since then.

According to official sources, the number of those who died due to liquor poisoning after the imposition of the ban is 19. A number of others were totally blinded after consuming spurious brew.

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