Three men from T Kumaramangalam village in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district were hospitalized after falling ill from consuming liquor distributed in packets. The incident, which occurred on June 30, involved Jayaraman, Murugan, and Sivachandran, who drank the liquor from packets provided by a man, according to a report on India Today.
The incident comes days after Kallakurichi hooch tragedy which claimed the lives of over 60 people in the state.
Sometime after consuming the liquor, Jayaraman experienced severe stomach pain, while Murugan and Sivachandran reported stomach irritation. The trio was subsequently admitted to Mundiyambakkam Government Hospital. While Murugan and Sivachandran have since recovered, Jayaraman remains in the ICU receiving intensive care.
Villupuram Superintendent of Police Deepak Siwach confirmed to India Today TV that medical tests revealed no presence of methanol in the men's blood, ruling out methanol poisoning as the cause of their symptoms. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Meanwhile, a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in his debut speech in the Parliament, criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not visiting Manipur, former minister and AIADMK member Sellur Raju has questioned Gandhi's silence on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin's absence in Kallakurichi. The question was raised by the AIADMK leader as Congress and DMK are allies in Tamil Nadu.
Raju highlighted that last year, over 20 people died after consuming illicit liquor in Villupuram, and more than 60 people recently died in Kallakurichi due to the hoonch tragedy. He expressed his discontent that the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, Edappadi Palaniswami, was not allowed to speak on the issue. Earlier, AIADMK also staged a protest demanding a CBI inquiry into the case after they were suspended from the Assembly.