COIMBATORE: Following the hooch tragedy in Kallakurichi claiming more than 40 lives, the police in Coimbatore and other Western districts have begun a crackdown on sale of illegal and spurious liquor.
Multiple teams of police including Prohibition Enforcement Wing (PEW) sleuths carried out searches in Pollachi, Mettupalayam, Perur, Karumathampatty and Valparai region in the respective jurisdiction of 32 police stations since Wednesday night.
Following raids, a total of 98 persons were arrested in 102 cases and 1,092 liquor bottles and 203 litres of toddy were seized from them.
Samples of liquor have been sent for laboratory testing to ascertain if they were bought from tasmac shops or were spurious liquor.
Superintendent of Police V Badrinarayan said the drive against illegal liquor sale has been intensified across the district.
In a similar exercise, Coimbatore city police arrested one person for selling liquor illegally in Nanjundapuram area and 20 liquor bottles were seized from him.
Meanwhile, a group of farmers affiliated to Narayanaswamy Naidu Farmers Protection Association petitioned Pollachi DSP V Jayachandran condemning the police action on toddy tappers in Pollachi area.
“More than 200 farmers are tapping neera and toddy in Pollachi area for their livelihood. After the hooch tragedy in Kallakurichi, police have begun to curb down on toddy sales. When toddy sale is allowed in Kerala, why should it be banned in Tamil Nadu alone? The state should first close liquor shops rather than targeting the farmers. If police continue to disturb toddy tapping farmers, the farmers will sell toddy in front of Gandhi statue in Pollachi as a mark of protest,” said farmers.
In a similar drive in Salem, the police arrested six persons including two women for selling illicit arrack and seized around 53 litres from them.