The Crime Branch-CID has been granted three days custody of 11 persons, believed to involved in the spurious liquor case in Marakkanam.
The case relates to the death of 14 persons, including 13 men and one woman, from Ekkiyarkuppam and neighbouring Marakkanam colony, who had consumed spurious liquor, earlier this month.
The victims, mostly fishermen had purchased the brew on May 13. They began arriving in hospitals in Villupuram and Puducherry on May 13 and 14 and died one after the other
Chief Judicial Magistrate M. Pushparani passed the order on Wednesday, with a direction to the CB-CID to produce the accused, Amaran, Muthu, Arumugam, Ravi, Mannankatti, Gunaseelan, Raja alias Barkathullah, Ezhumalai, Ilaya Nambi, Egambaram, and Robert Prem Kumar, before the court at 5 p.m. on Friday.
On May 17, the Tamil Nadu police altered the case relating to the deaths of 22 persons in Villupuram and Chengalpattu districts due to the consumption of spurious liquor, to that of murder.
The CB-CID, which took charge of the case on May 18, had filed a petition before the court on Tuesday, seeking three days custody of the 11 accused. Following the court order, the CB-CID team took the 11 persons into their custody to interrogate them.
