VIRUDHUNAGAR: Four youth, including a 16-year-old boy, died after consuming liquor bought from a TASMAC shop at Sivakasi here on Sunday. Five more youth are in a critical condition and are undergoing treatment at Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in Madurai.
The deceased have been identified as Ganesan (20), a car driver from Kamarajapuram in Sivakasi in Virudhunagar and his friends Mohamed Ibrahim (22), D Iyyappan (22) and 16-year-old boy. Police said that the four along with four of their friends — D Murugan (25), S Hariharan(22), M Saravanan (22), and another 14-year-old boy — all daily wage labourers working in an offset printing press in Sivakasi and residing in the surrounding areas of Karajapuram, left their home on Saturday after telling their parents that they were going to Courtallam.
On Sunday afternoon, they purchased bottles of liquor from a Tasmac outlet located in Parasakthi Colony in Sivakasi and consumed it on Sirukulam irrigation tank premises. A few hours after consuming the liquor, Ganesan, Mohamed Ibrahim and the 16-year-old fainted.
The incident was informed to Ganesan’s brother Sakthivel, who rushed to the spot and took all of them to Sivakasi Government Hospital, but the doctors declared them brought dead.
After some time, Iyyappan, Hariharan, Saravanan and the 14-year-old boy also fainted and were admitted at the Sivakasi GH. They were later referred to Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai. However, Iyyappan died on Sunday evening.
Following the incident, four Tasmc outlets including the one at Parasakthi Colony have been closed. Speaking to Express, an employee working in one of these outlets, on condition of anonymity, said that out of the two brands of liquor that were found from the spot, one was purchased from the Tasmac outlet at Parasakthi Colony.
Meanwhile, the police officials who recovered the bottles from the spot sent them for testing.
South Zone IG K P Shanmuga Rajeswaran and Virudhunagar SP M Rajarajan visited the spot and conducted investigations.
Speaking to Express, SP M Rajarajan said that seven special teams were formed to conduct investigations. “Further details will be known only after we receive the postmortem report,” said the SP. Raising suspicions over the death of the four youths, their relatives staged a protest in front of the Sivakasi GH.
Four faint
They purchased bottles of liquor from a Tasmac outlet located in Parasakthi Colony in Sivakasi and consumed it on Sirukulam irrigation tank premises. A few hours after consuming the liquor, Ganesan, Mohamed Ibrahim and the 16-year-old fainted
Eight victims in all
The four along with four of their friends, all daily wage labourers, left their home on Saturday after telling their parents that they were going to Courtallam