CHENNAI: Two construction workers were arrested on Friday at Ambattur for forcefully making a two-and-half year-old consume liquor.
Police said the two labourers made the boy drink liquor when he was playing alone near the construction site at Menambedu in the afternoon. The incident came to light after the boy’s mother V Dhanalaksmi, 25, also a labourer, came searching for the child and noticed him sitting with the two men — N Selvam (47) and J Palani (37) — who were boozing on the construction site.
“The mother smelt the odour from the child mouth and realised that the men made him consume liquor,” said a police officer, adding that they verbally abused her after she questioned them.
Based on a complaint she filed, the Ambattur police registered a case and arrested them. They were later remanded in judicial custody by a magistrate court.
Last July, a video of a four-year-old being made to consume liquor by men in Tiruvannamalai district went viral. The police eventually arrested the men.
Man drowns trying to flee
A day after a man jumped into the Cooum when chased by the police, his body was recovered from the river on Saturday.
Arun Kumar, 24, who has pending criminal cases against him, jumped into the river near Chintadripet, a highly contaminated stretch, when he noticed a police team nearby. He hoped to cross the river, but drowned. His body was recovered on Saturday. The police have registered a case.