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Wednesday, September 9, 2026

NEWS TODAY 09.09.2026

Justice Gokuldas Commission holds police and Excise Officials responsible for Kallakurichi hooch tragedy

The 2024 illicit arrack incident led to the death of 70 persons in Kallakurichi.S.S. Kumar

The Hindu Bureau

CHENNAI. 09.09.2026

The Justice B. Gokuldas Commission of Inquiry, which probed the causes and circumstances leading to the illicit arrack tragedy in Kallakurichi in which 70 persons died in 2024, held officials of the Prohibition and Excise Department responsible for the tragedy.

“If the authorities vested with the powers of monitoring and scrutinising the storage, transport and sale of methanol had been diligent in their duties, the killer chemical substance could not have found its way from Chennai to Kallakurichi,” said the report, which was tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday.

The Commission also held police officers of the cadre of Sub-Inspector, Inspector, and Deputy Superintendent, attached to the regular police stations at Kallakurichi, Sankarapuram, and Kachirapalayam, as well as officers of the Prohibition Enforcement Wing at Kallakurichi and Tirukovilur, responsible for the incident.

“Village Assistants, Village Administrative Officers, Revenue Inspectors and the Tahsildars of Kallakurichi, Sankarapuram and Kachirapalayam taluks were also responsible,” the retired judge said, recommending that appropriate action be initiated, including departmental inquiries against officials who were in service immediately after the tragedy. The Commission recommended that the government make arrangements to provide education, food, and shelter to children orphaned by the death of their parents and offer them government jobs after they completed their education.

Justice Gokuldas recommended the creation of another Prohibition Enforcement Wing exclusively for the Kalvarayan Hills.