SC rejects T.N. plea against CBI probe into Kallakurichi illicit liquor deaths case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the State of Tamil Nadu’s challenge to a Madras High Court decision transferring the investigation into the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan asked the Tamil Nadu side what harm would be caused if the probe was done by a Central agency. Advocates Balaji Srinivasan and GS Mani had appeared in caveat in the case.

The tragedy had claimed 68 lives in June and July this year. The High Court had passed the order in November after expressing disappointment over the State government’s alleged failure to take stern action against the police and other officials concerned, despite the loss of so many lives.

The High Court had taken 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Kallakurichi Superintendent of Police, Samay Singh Meena, was suspended from service on June 19, the suspension order was revoked quickly and he was reinstated as the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Tambaram Commissionerate, on July 24.

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 had 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 had 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 had 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 had concluded.

Published - December 17, 2024 08:00 pm IST