NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, APRIL 8
After trying desperately to get a bottle of liqour while the officials shifting the stock to a warehouse for safety, a 65-year old man fainted and he was later pronounced brought dead by authorities at a government hospital, a senior police official said on Wednesday.
The man, when he heard that liquor stocks were being shifted from four neighbourhood outlets to a warehouse, lined up in front of the shops at Janakipuram in Villupuram here along with scores of others.
They desperately pleaded with officials to sell them any liquor. Despite police presence and in spite of authorities telling consumers that stocks cannot be sold in view of lockdown, they continued to roaming around the premises on Tuesday with a hope that officials would relent.
Following incidents of State-run Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) liquor stores getting burgled in regions including Coimbatore and Tiruchirappalli recently, authorities have been transferring inventories from outlets considered vulnerable to warehouses.
The sexagenarian, after trying his luck in three other shops, came to the fourth one and “he tried his best to get a bottle of liquor but could not and he fainted.
We rushed him to a government hospital in an ambulance, but hospital authorities pronounced him brought dead yesterday,” a senior district police official said.
The crowd of men, who teemed around the liquor shops were dispersed and they were not sold beverages, the official added.
Following the lockdown, at least four men have died recently in Tamil Nadu after they consumed shaving lotion and paint varnish, falsely believing that these would give them a high and were not harmful.
A 43-year old man hailing from Karur district allegedly committed suicide following frustration due to days of alcohol deprivation.
