Kallakurichi hooch tragedy: Survivors recall horror, call for abolishment of all spurious liquor sales

Hooch tragedy survivors in Karunapuram recall harrowing experiences, demand justice and ban on liquor sales in the area.

Five days after one of the worst-ever hooch tragedies hit Kallakurichi in north Tamil Nadu, in which 58 persons have died so far, Karunapuram, the epicentre of the tragedy, is still haunted by the memories of the night of June 18, 2024.

Flex boards with obituaries of the victims have been put up in front of a number of houses in the locality, while police personnel stand guard outside a residence which, until June 18, functioned round-the-clock as a retail outlet supplying the poisonous brew to the residents.

“People in the area started falling ill and were rushed to the Government Kallakurichi Medical College Hospital on the morning of June 19. I had no idea what was happening. I lost consciousness and was soon rushed to the hospital from where I was referred to Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer) in Puducherry,” recounts M. Sathya, 27 one of the survivors.

Ms. Sathya was among the five persons who were discharged from Jipmer on Sunday.

Recalling the tragic day, Ms. Sathya, a mother of two, said she had been addicted to liquor from a young age. “Once, my father’s friend had come home and I consumed a small portion of the brew left by them in a glass. Subsequently, I became addicted. Initially, I stopped drinking following the birth of my two children but then I started drinking again,” she says.

On the night of June 18, Ms. Sathya and her sibling Vandana, a transperson consumed the brew purchased from the bootlegger Kannukutty alias Govindaraj in the locality. Govindaraj has since been arrested.

Once the symptoms started began, both of them were rushed to the Government Kallakurichi Medical College and then referred to Jipmer. Ms. Vandana was discharged on June 24.