HC orders CBI probe into Tamil Nadu hooch tragedy that killed 67

The Madras high court on Wednesday ordered a central bureau of investigation (CBI) probe into the June 19 hooch tragedy in Tamil Nadu that claimed 67 lives in Kallakurichi. The Tamil Nadu Police have been investigating the incident and arrested over a dozen accused.

The court on Wednesday was of the “prima facie view” that the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy “is one of the rarest of rare cases which warrants a fair and impartial investigation by the CBI” referring to pronouncements of the Supreme Court in the matter of transfer of cases to the federal agency.

A bench of justices D Krishnakumar and PB Balaji asked the Tamil Nadu police to hand over all case diaries to the CBI in Chennai within two weeks. The court also directed the CBI, Chennai, to file final reports before the jurisdictional court as expeditiously as possible. “Needless to state, the State police shall extend their fullest cooperation to the CBI for the smooth conduct of investigation,” the court said.

The order was based on a batch of pleas filed by opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK). The opposition has accused the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led Tamil Nadu government of corruption that allegedly led to the production of spurious liquor. It was a political setback for the DMK when the tragedy happened soon after the Lok Sabha elections where the party saw a landslide victory winning all seats.

“That the incident occurred within a stone’s throw distance from the police station really stuns us as to how it could have gone unnoticed,” the court said.

On the day of the tragedy the state suspended and transferred Kallakurichi’s collector, superintendent of police and a slew of other government officers. “To top it all, when senior police officials were suspended immediately, one of the suspensions was even revoked without proper reasons,” the court said.

It further said: “Yet, despite all the suspensions and posting of one of the top officers in a non-sensitive post, the State has not been able to demonstrate what disciplinary action has been initiated against these officials. All this only leads us to believe that either there was indeed an unholy connection amongst the persons involved in the manufacture and sale of illicit liquor and the police authorities or the suspensions were merely knee-jerk reactions in the heat of the moment to merely appease the public. Either way, we are not able to appreciate the actions taken by the State and in fact, it is only their inaction and conscious silence that looms large.”

Another intriguing aspect for the court was that on June 19, Kallakurichi’s then district collector had said in a press meet that the cause of death cannot be attributed to consumption of illicit arrack alone. Later in the day, the superintendent of police, Kallakurichi, was suspended where the state gave a reason that he failed to curb the sale of illicit arrack in his jurisdiction.

“This mutually contradictory stand of the State is indeed jaw-dropping,” the court said. “Next, the stand of the State that the Hon’ble Speaker disallowed the Call Attention Motion moved by Mr. Senthilkumar, MLA of Kallakurichi Constituency as regards curbing the sale of illicit liquor in Kallakurichi and hence, the matter did not come to the notice of the State is too big a pill to swallow, especially in the light of the fact the police do have knowledge of manufacture of illicit liquor in Kalvarayan hills near Kallakurichi. That apart, the main allegation levelled by the petitioners is only with regard to mixing of methanol.”

The court then raised twin hooch tragedies last year that took place in Marakkanam in Villupuram district and Madurantakam in Chengalpattu district.

“At this juncture, it is worth pointing out that in the aftermath,” court said referring to a letter written by the director general of police (DGP) to the home department in December 2023, “highlighting that there are no clearcut guidelines for handling methanol as in the case of distribution, transportation and sale of illegal arrack” and had solicited appropriate further instructions. “Though the police claim that they are taking all earnest steps to curb the sale of illicit liquor, this Court is of the view that the ground reality reflected in the 2023 hooch tragedy cases in Chengalpattu and Villupuram and the 2024 Kallakurichi incident is otherwise,” the court said.

“As already observed above, had the State acted upon the 13.12.2023 communication of the Director General of Police in letter and spirit, the lives of 67 innocent persons of Kallakurichi could have been saved,” it said.

The court refused to accept the state government’s argument that since investigation in the cases in Kallakurichi, Villupuram and Chengalpattu is almost complete so they need not be transferred from the CB-CID to the CBI as the latter agency will have to only start investigating from scratch.

“This argument, again, does not cut ice with this Court, because, it is trite law that even after a charge sheet is filed, a case can be made over to the CBI and judgments on this point are legion,” the court said. “Further, the CBI, Chennai, is directed to investigate all aspects of the aforesaid three cases and file final reports before the jurisdictional Court as expeditiously as possible.”