Kallakurichi hooch tragedy: Probe transferred to CBI

Chennai, Nov 20 (PTI) The Madras High Court on Wednesday transferred to CBI, the investigation into the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy case, in which 67 people died after consuming illicit liquor.

The state government said a decision would be taken on appealing against the court order and the main opposition AIADMK said the DMK regime must not prefer an appeal if it had nothing to hide.

A division bench comprising Justices D Krishnakumar and P B Balaji passed the order on the petitions filed by AIADMK Legal Wing Secretary and former MLA I S Inbadurai, K Balu, President Advocates Forum for Social Justice and two others, which sought a CBI probe into the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy.

The bench said, "In view of the foregoing discussion, with specific reference to the authoritative pronouncements of the Supreme Court in the matter of transfer of cases to the CBI, this Court is of the prima facie view that this Kallakurichi hooch tragedy case is one of the rarest of rare cases which warrants a fair and impartial investigation by the CBI".

The bench directed the state police to hand over the entire case diaries in CB-CID, Villupuram to the CBI within two weeks.

The bench directed the CBI, Chennai to investigate all aspects of the three cases and 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 bench added.

Law Minister S Regupathy said Chief Minister M K Stalin would take a decision on preferring an appeal before the Supreme Court against the Hight Court ruling and added that the state government has the right to appeal. The state's CB-CID probe was in the correct direction and the government had proof to support its case, the minister said.

The AIADMK, which filed the petition, welcomed the court ruling and said that it was a victory for its continued fight for justice. Leader of Opposition and AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami, quoting a Tamil saying, said that the DMK regime must not file an appeal against the high court verdict if it had done nothing wrong on this issue.

The bench said even as per the stand of the state, in certain cases, there has been involvement of accused from states like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and Union territory of Puducherry from the stage of procurement of raw materials.

When the entire illegal activity was not confined only to Tamil Nadu, and considering the nexus of the accused from two other states and one union territory, this court was constrained to ponder the effectiveness with which the CB-CID could investigate the case and bring offenders to book.

The bench said the stand of the state that the Assembly Speaker disallowed the call attention motion moved by 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 was '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 was only with regard to mixing of methanol, the bench added.

The bench said the suspension of the Superintendent of Police, Kallakurichi was revoked and he was posted as Deputy Commissioner of Police, Tambaram.

"The reason assigned for revocation of his suspension was that the said officer addressed a representation to that effect and the Director General of Police recommended for revocation of his suspension. This reason does not cut ice with this court because no material worth the salt was produced before this court in support of this reason," the bench noted.

Though the officer has been posted in a non-sensitive post, in the opinion of the court, the possibility of him attempting to influence the others in the department cannot be ruled out.

The bench said, "Though the prime accused Kannukutty @ Govindaraj has been arrested in connection with 17 cases (all under the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act) from 2009 to 2023, out of which, he has been convicted in nine cases, he had been selling illicit arrack in the streets without any let or hindrance and this makes us believe that there is merit and substance in the stand of the petitioners that Kannukutty @ Govindaraj has an unholy nexus with the police officials".

The bench said this Court was of the prima facie view that had the police officials nipped the problem in the bud, the loss of 67 lives in Kallakurichi could have been easily averted.

The state law minister alleged political vendetta behind some parties approaching the court on the issue. PTI