Three men who died in Kanjikode in Walayar of Kerala’s Palakkad district are suspected to have consumed spurious liquor. Asianet News said that the three men, hailing from the Payattukad tribal colony in Kanjikode, had reportedly died after consuming spurious alcohol. The liquor is believed to have come from Tamil Nadu.

The deceased are Ayyappan (55), Raman (55) and Sivan (37). However, an official at the Walayar police station told TNM that it was not yet clear if the deaths were due to the consumption of spurious liquor. The post mortems have not been completed yet.

Viswanathan, the head of the Payattukad tribal colony, told Manorama News that the three dead men had consumed alcohol the previous day. One of the deceased, Sivan, had been giving out the liquor to others, Viswanathan said. He was not sure where Sivan got it from but as soon as it was consumed, people felt their heads go numb and their stomachs burning. His wife too had consumed a small quantity and had to be taken to the hospital, Viswanathan added.

Watch: Viswanathan on the spurious liqour consumption

Last month, three men were hospitalised after consuming spurious liquor at a homestay in Idukki. According to a report in the Hindu, an excise official said that the three men mixed ingredients of a sanitiser with honey. Incidents of people trying to consume the content of hand sanitisers during the lockdown had been reported earlier too. During the initial months of the lockdown when bars and beverages outlets of the state were closed, several people had resorted to consuming sanitisers as they have alcohol content.

Additional Commissioner of Enforcement Excise Department Sam Christy Daniel told TNM earlier about cases where people trying to sell sanitiser as a substitute for alcohol were caught. Vinu, a sociologist at Vimukthi, the Kerala government’s anti-narcotics campaign, had said that they got many calls asking if it was alright to consume sanitiser.