Kallakurichi hooch tragedy: Madras High Court orders a CBI probe

Madras High Court orders CBI probe into the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy case.

The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy that claimed 68 lives in June and July this year. The court passed the orders after expressing disappointment over the Tamil Nadu government having failed to take stern action against the police and other officials concerned, despite the loss of so many lives.

The Second Division Bench of Justices D. Krishnakumar (the Chief Justice-designate of the Manipur High Court) and P.B. Balaji took note that though the then Kallakurichi Superintendent of Police, Samay Singh Meena, was suspended from service on June 19, the suspension order was revoked quickly and he was reinstated as the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Tambaram Commissionerate, on July 24.

The judges said the government had not cited any acceptable reason for revoking the suspension but for referring to a representation given by Mr. Meena to revoke the suspension and a recommendation made in his favour by the Director-General of Police. “This reason does not cut ice with this court and no material worth the salt has been produced before the court,” Justice Krishnakumar wrote.

“In other words, the materials produced before this court by the State would reveal that there is no acceptable reason for revocation of the suspension. Though the officer has been posted in a non-sensitive post, in the opinion of this court, the possibility of him attempting to influence the others in the department cannot be ruled out,” the senior judge on the Bench observed in his verdict.

Expressing deep anguish over non-initiation of severe action against officials who were either hand in glove with the sellers of spurious liquor or had miserably failed to prevent the sale happening right under their nose, the Bench said: “All these aspects cumulatively make this court think that there may not be a fair and impartial investigation by the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID).”

The judges also highlighted that the prime accused Kannukutty alias Govindaraj was a perpetual offender who had been booked in as many as 17 prohibition cases between 2009 and 2023 and convicted in nine cases. Yet, his continued indulgence in the crime “makes us believe that there is merit and substance in the stand of the writ petitioners that Govindaraj has an unholy nexus with the police officials,” they added.

Since there was also a possibility of raw materials for the spurious liquor having been procured from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Puducherry, the Bench felt that only the CBI, and not the CB-CID, would be able to investigate the case effectively and bring the culprits to book. “This Kallakurichi hooch tragedy case is one of the rarest of rare cases which warrants a fair and impartial investigation by the CBI,” it concluded.