Booze cases on high, man dies after drinking methanol in Tamil Nadu

TNN | Apr 15, 2020, 06:24 IST

Representative image

CHENNAI: As the lockdown put Tasmac outlets out of business, tipplers across the state are turning desperate with some paying with their lives and others knocking at bootleggers’ doors.
While a 55-year-old man who consumed methanol to get a high in Cuddalore district died on Tuesday, as many as 1,689 liquor cases were registered and 2,119 people were arrested across nine districts in the north zone from March 26 to April 13 — most of it for arrack.
M Chandrakasu, the victim, and three others, R Ezhilvanan, A Mayakrishnan, and Sundararaj, who fell ill after consuming methanol were admitted to the Cuddalore GH on Sunday.
According to police, K Kumaresan, who works at a pesticide manufacturing firm at the Sipcot industrial estate in Cuddalore, stole one litre of methanol from the unit on Sunday and gave it to Sundararaj who mixed it with water and consumed along with the other three.
Meanwhile, 33,083 litres of illicit arrack, 92,381 litres of raw materials and 826 litres rectified spirit have been seized since the lockdown in Javadi hills, Jamunamarathur, Yelagiri, Tirupattur, Vellore, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram. A total of 441 illicit arrack cases have been registered in Salem range comprising Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts from April 5 to 12. Salem range DIG Pradip Kumar said though cases against illicit liquor are filed all through the year, their numbers have jumped now.
Forests of Salem and Dharmapuri conducive for brewing illicit liquor
He observed that large pockets of Salem and Dharmapuri districts with good forest cover and hills make it conducive for setting up distilleries to brew illicit liquor. “Kalvarayan hills, which shares border with Salem, Dharmapuri and Kallakurichi districts is notorious for illicit liquor making,” he said.
A Tamilarasan, a former bootlegger in Arunuthumalai area near Karumandurai atop Kalvarayan hills, is now a reformed farm labourer. He said two varieties of illicit liquor are prepared in Tamil Nadu. The first uses rice, wheat, maize, jaggery and citrus fruits, whereas alkaline battery acid and even crushed glasses are used for the other variety. Some even add dead lizard, alprazolam tablets, pain reliever balms and urea for stronger kick.
He said that earlier, “arrack used to be sold in small packets of Rs.100. Now, due to police raids, they are sold in one litre packs for Rs 800.”
Brewing illicit arrack is taking new forms and is also prepared at home using pressure cookers. Three of the 10 cases registered by the Kanyakumari district police in a special raid on Sunday were against those who used pressure cookers to make it in houses. “Seizure in the cases ranged from meagre volumes of two litres arrack,” a senior police officer. The number of illicit arrack incidents is on the rise over the last five to six days.
According to a senior police officer in Salem region, tipplers are mostly economically downtrodden and don’t have money to buy IMFL liquor bottles that are sold at exorbitant rates in the black market. “One quarter (180 ml) bottle rum of a popular brand is sold for Rs 850 now while the price fixed by the government for full (750 ml) bottle was Rs 840,” he said.
The police are keeping track of former bootleggers who claimed to have reformed after serving jail term to keep illicit arrack under check.
(With inputs from Bosco Dominique, V Senthil Kumaran, A Selvaraj and M K Ananth)