KALLAKURICHI: At 3.45 am on June 19, 2024, 28-year-old G Praveen, a wall painter, arrived at the Government Medical College and Hospital in Kallakurichi with symptoms of vomiting and severe abdominal pain.
Unaware that his symptoms were caused by a brew laced with toxic methanol, that would soon result in the worst hooch tragedy Tamil Nadu had witnessed in decades, the doctors there treated the single parent of two boys as an out-patient and sent him home.
Praveen returned dead to the same hospital within six hours, effectively orphaning his sons Joshua (7) and Moses (6); their mother had left the family five years ago. The children, who told TNIE that their father is now “sleeping under the mud”, terribly miss Praveen and their daily joy rides with him on his bike.
Praveen consumed the hooch on June 18 with his uncle D Suresh (45), not because he was an alcoholic like his uncle. Suresh, who worked as a loadman, died at his home shortly before Praveen.
Alcohol was, in fact, a rare whim for Praveen, which started only after he separated from his wife, said his mother, G Regina (47).
“I think of my boy every minute, imagining how I could have saved him that day and feel suicidal. But I must live for his sons and support them. I see my son’s smile in my elder grandson, Yesuva (Joshua) and that is my only solace,” she said, recalling how Praveen was a deeply cherished son and brother, beloved to everyone in their extended family as he was the only male child in his generation.
The government machinery, which failed to sense the gravity of the unfolding tragedy when it first got its alert through Praveen’s hospital visit, swung into action later on June 19 as more people started arriving dead at the hospital, after an initial thoughtless bid at denying that the deaths were due to hooch.
The full scale of the horror would only be understood by the next day with the death toll mounting by the hour, and a large number of people reaching the hospital with similar symptoms. Patients had to be taken to medical college hospitals in Villupuram and Salem, and the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Puducherry, as the district health officials struggled to cope with the number of affected persons.
The Kallakurichi incident, coming just a year after 22 persons died of methanol poisoning in hooch in Villupuram and Chengalpattu, highlighted the government’s gross failure to enforce the prohibition of illicit liquor in the state.
The government’s wake-up call came at the cost of 69 lives (from places like Karunapuram, Madhavacheri, Ammapettai, Kachirapalayam, Seshasamudram and Sankarapuram in Kallakurichi district), the orphaning of four children, the loss of one of the parents of 34 children, partial or full blindness of three persons, and chronic illnesses of several others who survived the toxic hooch. The government had offered a solatium of Rs 10 lakh to each family that lost a member. It credited Rs 5 lakh each in bank accounts for children who lost both parents and Rs 3 lakh for those who had lost one parent, which can be withdrawn once they turn 18.
On Thursday (June 19), TNIE visited Karunapuram, which not only accounted for 38 deaths but was where Gandhiraj alias Kannukutty, a habitual offender and the key accused, allegedly sold hooch for years at a spot, just a few hundred metres from the local police station.
The neighbourhood is dominated by low-income families from marginalised communities, who live in matchbox-sized houses for a rent of Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000. In sharp contrast to the cries of oppari (threnody) that reverberated in the streets last year, amid arrangements for mass funerals, silence prevailed on Thursday.
The socio-economic conditions, which forced the men here to opt for the potent illicit hooch sold for Rs 60 a packet instead of the Rs 150 for 180ml bottle sold by the state-run Tasmac, have not changed much in the past year. The bereaved families are slowly trying to piece together their broken lives, with the financial aid provided by the state, amid old and new struggles. Some men are yet to recover from alcoholism, while many women, left to fend for their families, have been unable to earn a stable income. Above all, the children who lost their parents need more support to build a better future.
S Kokila (17), S Harish (15), and S Ragavan (14) lost both their parents in the tragedy. Their father R Suresh (41) died after consuming the toxic hooch. Their mother, 39-year-old S Vadivukkarasi, mistakenly consumed a small amount of hooch Suresh had left in a cup, thinking it was water.
When the media landed in Karunapuram after the deaths, Harish and Ragavan had the misfortune of becoming the poster children of the tragedy with images of them performing the last rites for their parents broadcast widely.
Just as he did not know what to say when the media pressed him for a sound byte last year, Harish did not have much to say when TNIE visited him on Thursday, except that he wants to be hopeful of the future.
“I am in Class 10 and my brother is in Class 9. The government said it would be taking care of our fees and other expenses. I hope this (our education) will bring some hope to our future,” he said. The two boys have been admitted at a private residential school, located an hour away in Gedilam, by the government from this academic year (2025-26).
Kokila, who refused to talk about the incident, is in Class 12 at a nearby government girls higher secondary school as she did not want to shift schools this year.
Their 60-year-old grandmother, A Muniyamma, cares for the trio. She had been working as an agricultural labourer in Kerala and returned to Kallakurichi last year on learning of the death of her daughter and son-in-law.
“The children have changed since the incident. Rather than being talkative and cheerful as they were earlier, they have become much quieter now,” she said, adding that she cannot do much except cooking meals and taking care of their household, with the daily wage of Rs 300 she earns doing odd jobs.
For Rasheeda Begum (43), widow of Praveen’s uncle Suresh, mourning has been impossible, such is the anger she feels for her husband. “He was an addict and there was nothing more I could have done to stop him. We fought everyday over his drinking but nothing changed. I am so angry I can’t even mourn him,” Banu said.
Their daughter S Sushmitha (17), however, misses her father dearly. Despite the loss, she secured over 500 marks in her class 12 board examination and is hoping to join a paramedical course.
Banu saved part of the solatium of Rs 10 lakh for her daughter’s higher education and is using the remaining for their day-to-day expenses. Despite her anger at her husband, she said there are still occasions when she wishes he could have survived at least with disabilities. “He used to be loving whenever he was sober,” she recalled.
R Anil (52) did survive the hooch, although he lost his vision. His inability to give up liquor, however, enrages his wife A Latha (45). “I do not mean it, but sometimes, to express my anger, I have told him I wish he had died as I would have at least received the Rs 10 lakh solatium,” she told TNIE.
Anil, born in Rajasthan, fell in love with Latha when her family visited the state around 25 years ago. He moved to Kallakurichi after marrying her. Once a cheerful painter, he now spends his days seated at the entrance of the house, needing support to navigate his home.
To support the family after the tragedy, Latha picked up tailoring but only earns Rs 100 a day compared to the Rs 1,000 her husband once brought home. While the couple’s daughter is married, their 23-year-old older son met with an accident recently, leaving Latha and their younger son (21) the sole breadwinners. As they live in Latha’s mother’s house, they are spared the burden of rent. The compensation of Rs 50,000 they received from the government was exhausted soon after the incident.
Ardent DMK supporter S Mayakannan (53), also survived the incident but has lost his vision and become nearly bed-ridden. He is cared for by his wife M Rajamani and their 21-year-old son, named after the late DMK leader Murasoli Maran.
“My mother earns Rs 300 a day from odd jobs and also gives bath and cares for my father. I recently quit a temporary job as the employers were not paying salary,” Maran said
While Anil has not applied for a disability certificate from the government, which entitles a person to a monthly allowance (based on level of disability), Mayakannan has received a disability certificate but is not receiving the pension.
K Balu (30), another survivor also went blind after the incident but, with treatment, has regained some vision. Balu’s wife had separated from him four years ago, when their son B Kabilan was three. Balu is under the care of his cousins.
“I can’t see clearly. It is all blurry. I live and fight to survive for my son. After the incident, I realised how lonely my son would be had I died,” said Balu, who has completely stopped drinking.
M Karthikeyan (32), who worked as a loadman, lived right next to where Kannukutty plied his trade. He recalled starting his day by sneaking a drink of a packet of hooch without his wife’s knowledge as he believed it helped relieve him of the pains from heavy labour. Despite consuming the toxic liquor on June 18, he survived without visible disabilities. “But I wish I had died as my sons (aged 5 and 8) and wife would have received the solatium,” he said.
Now he lives in constant pain -- in his abdomen, ribs and legs – and his vision occasionally dims. Unable to perform hard labour as before, he earns only Rs 200 a day, half his previous income.
Yet, unlike Balu, he is unable to quit drinking. Instead of the illicit hooch, he now drinks liquor from Tasmac. On a day he decides to drink, he spends at least 75% of that day’s wages on the bottle. Anil too has been unable to completely give up drinking; his friends help buy him liquor once in a while from Tasmac, which has two outlets within a kilometre of the neighbourhood.
The women in Karunapuram say that hooch is no longer available in the area since the incident. Kallakurichi Superintendent of Police Rajat Chaturvedi said around 250 offenders had been remanded within a year in the district and hooch supply chains have been dismantled with legislative amendments that made punitive provisions stringent.
Chaturvedi said police personnel found to be complicit in bootlegging activities were either suspended or transferred. “Currently, 80% of the team is newly assigned and actively engaged in eliminating the illicit liquor network,” the SP said.
Praveen’s sister G Preetha (26) said her family initially refused to accept the solatium of Rs 10 lakh as no amount of money would bring back her brother and instead demanded stringent action against those brazenly selling hooch.
She was anguished that many in the neighbourhood blamed the family for finally taking the money, but none blamed those who sold hooch. She said though Kannukutty is behind the bars, his son routinely creates ruckus in the neighbourhood after getting drunk.
“We urge the government to run strong de-addiction programmes and protect the men of Karunapuram from this destructive alcoholism,” she added
Kallakurichi Collector MS Prasanth said periodic awareness campaigns are being organised in the area against alcoholism and interventions regarding rehabilitation are done for those in need.
On ensuring income for the women, he said nearly 20,000 women across the district were enrolled in Self Help Groups in the past year to promote financial independence.
Stating that the focus is now on holistic development of Karunapuram and the district, he said the revenue department has initiated work to provide own houses for people in the area so they need not spend on rent.