AP Kurichedu sanitiser deaths: 10 people arrested including five from Hyderabad

The main accused is a Class 6 dropout who was making sanitiser by watching YouTube videos using methanol, which is a dangerous chemical.
Police investigation
Police investigation
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Ten people were arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Kurichedu of Prakasam district in which 16 persons died after consuming hand sanitisers due to scarcity of alcohol. Of the arrested, five of the main accused belong to Hyderabad.

According to the official note released by the Prakasam district police, “The SIT has collected 69 bottles from the different scenes of crime and identified that the deceased consumed 8 brands of sanitisers and started locating their addresses and manufacturing units. Of them, SIT suspected one brand named ‘Perfect Gold’ on which there is no batch number and immediately sent two officers to Bangalore and Hyderabad since addresses printed on the labels belong to those places. It was found that no such company i.e. Vandana forma, is existing in the places mentioned on the label.”

The note added, "The SIT officials after making thorough searches on the internet, could identify the dealer of the Perfect Gold brand sanitiser located in Prashasannagar, Hyderabad and rushed there and found heavy stocks of Perfect Gold sanitiser boxes in the premises of the distributor. On interrogation, he confessed that one ‘Sale Srinivas’ of Subhashnagar, Jedimetla in Hyderabad is supplying Perfect Gold sanitiser to him on cheapest rates."

When SIT officials were probing Srinivas after taking him into custody, it was revealed that he was a 6th class dropout belonging to Siddapuram village of Vikarabad district and was working in a petrol bunk and also sold paint remover for sometime and has only little knowledge of the chemicals.

Amid the rising demand for sanitisers due to the COVID-19 situation, he started making sanitisers using the cheapest methods to make money by watching YouTube videos. On the advice of people who sell chemicals to Srinivas, he started using methanol, which is dangerous, instead of ethanol, as the former one is cheaper and can gain profits, according to the police.

The accused Srinivas was making sanitisers in a rented room, on the name of Perfect Gold in Subhashnagar of Hyderabad with the help of his elder brother Siva Kumar.

SIT officials have also tracked the supply chain of the Perfect Gold sanitiser from Hyderabad to Kurichedu. Through mediators, about 200 bottles of Perfect Gold sanitisers were sold to five medical shops in Kurichedu, Donakonda and Darsi areas of Prakasam district. The 16 people who lost their lives were found to have purchased sanitiser from these shops.

All the five medical shop owners were also arrested by the police for ‘culpable negligence’ as they were selling these sanitisers repeatedly to the same people in a short span of time.

Meanwhile, the other five people involved in the manufacturing, distribution and supply of the illegal sanitisers from Hyderabad were also arrested by the police.

They were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 27 (sale of adulterated or spurious drugs of not standard quality which are likely to cause death of the person) under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

It may be recalled that in Kurichedu, 16 persons of different sections, especially the poor, died in different intervals between July 9 to July 31 under suspicious circumstances. Most of them were beggars and rickshaw-pullers. Then, Kurichedu Police registered a case under section 174 Criminal Penal Code and investigated the case. Preliminary investigation revealed that the 16 persons died after consuming hand sanitisers as there was scarcity of liquor due to lockdown in Kurichedu.

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