In a major setback to the ruling DMK government in Tamil Nadu, the Madras High Court on Wednesday transferred the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The case relating to the incident that claimed the lives of 68 people is currently being probed by the Crime Branch Criminal Investigation Division (CBCID) of the Tamil Nadu police.
Hearing petitions filed by the opposition political parties including the AIADMK, PMK, DMDK and the BJP, a division bench comprising justices D Krishnakumar and P B Balaji passed the orders on Wednesday and transferred the investigation to the CBI. The opposition parties in their petitions had urged for a CBI investigation in the case, stating that a probe by the Tamil Nadu police may not yield justice to the families of the victims.
The bench contended that the case be transferred to the CBI given the seriousness of the issue as 68 lives have been lost due to the consumption of illicit liquor. In his observation, Justice Balaji said that the sake of illicit liquor happened right under the nose of the police and the authorities did not act even after they had information.
The Kallakurichi hooch tragedy was one of the major setbacks for the DMK soon after it won all 39 constituencies in the Lok Sabha poll. The government initially did not know the seriousness of the issue and said that the death was not due to spurious liquor. Later when the death toll began to climb, the government swung into action and switched to damage control mode.
The district collector was transferred and the SP was placed under suspension. The government brought amendments to the existing law to allow stringent punishment for those who brew and sell spurious liquor. Huge barrels of liquor stored at the Kalvarayan hills near Kallakurichi were confiscated by the police after several rounds of search operations.