Five get death penalty in 2001 Hooch tragedy case

Chennai: The Tiruvannamalai District Sessions Court on Friday awarded death penalty to five people in connection with the 2001 illicit liquor tragedy that had claimed 13 lives.Delivering the verdict, 17 years after the incident took place, Judge Magizhendi convicted all the five accused and awarded death penalty as the prosecution has proved the case 'beyond any doubt'. The Judge also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 each on them. They were later taken to Vellore Central Prison.

The probe, which was initially handled by the district police, was later transferred to the Crime Branch-CID after the post-mortem reports of the deceased revealed presence of poison. The incident was a fall out of business rivalry, when the rival group mixed poison in the illicit arrack manufactured by on Kamatchi, resulting in the death of 13 people at Polur taluk in this district.
During investigations, the rival group headed by bootlegger Jayapaul and his associates Murugan, Kaliappan, Thillai Kannan and Kumar, admitted that they had mixed poison in the arrack made by the woman. After filing of chargesheet and the trial, the Court today delivered the verdict.( UNI)