DEADLY SPIRIT

For eight years till 2019, Tamil Nadu seemed to have put the evil genie back into the bottle and screwed the cap back on. It recorded zero deaths from the consumption of illicit hooch during that span—call it a state of heightened vigil after 2011 saw an all-time high of 481 deaths from that cause.

- Amarnath K. Menon

The worm on the graph had been slowly raising its head again, with 64 deaths in 2020-23. But 2024 has matched that in one shot, putting a district and town called Kallakurichi on the national map for all the wrong reasons. Tragedy struck on June 18 night, as scores taken ill by illegal hooch started queuing up at the local government hospital. By all accounts, a total of 225 people were admitted across various medical facilities in the state. Some were discharged, some were still being treated a week later, and many didn’t make it. By June 26, the death toll had touched 63. The victims are mostly from Karunapuram, a predominantly Dalit village in Kallakurichi, which is itself often listed among the state’s most backward areas.