Manichan arrested at Nagercoil

By Our Staff Reporter

KOLLAM, NOV. 26. Chandradas alias Manichan, one of the prime accused in the Kalluvathukkal-Kottarakara hooch tragedy case, was arrested by the special investigation team from a hotel at Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu early this morning.

Later, he was produced before presspersons at the Kollam Police Club, mainly for being photographed. During a brief face-to-face with reporters, Manichan said he was arrested and that he did not surrender.

However, he was not allowed to talk anything beyond that.

Manichan is the seventh accused and is suspected to have supplied the killer brew that claimed several lives in the hooch tragedy.

The Kollam SP, Mr. Manoj Abraham, said the arrest was effected in Nagercoil at 7-30 a.m. by the Kollam West Circle Inspector, Mr. Jayachandran Nair, and brought to the Kollam Police Club.

According to Mr. Abraham, Manichan was staying at the Singar Hotel (Room No. 310) near the Nagercoil bus stand after he landed there from Udipi yesterday night.

The trap was set after a tip-off from another abkari contractor, Ambalathara Surendran, who was in police custody two days ago for maintaining contact with Manichan over the cell phone.

It was through Surendran that the police learnt of Manichan's plan to arrive in Nagercoil.

Police said that Manichan checked in to the hotel under the name Chandran from Thiruvananthapuram.

He told the police that soon after the hooch tragedy, he left for Kanyakumari and from there to Karnataka, Mookambika temple, Mangalore and then to Madurai where his wife joined him for a few days.

The Kollam SP said that during the interrogation, Manichan confessed that the 90,000-litre spirit consignment unearthed from his property at Chirayinkeezhu last Sunday was supplied by one Vengodu Murali and that the consignment was meant only to be mixed with toddy to be sold through the toddy shops within the excise range where he had won the contract. (Raids by a Special Investigation Team since last week had yielded over one lakh litres of spirit kept concealed in sintex tanks in concrete cellars in Manichan's house.

Police had also seized sophisticated communication equipment and a bottling and sachet-filling machine during the raids.)

He told the police that after his brief stay at Madurai, he had left for Udipi from where he came down to Nagercoil yesterday night.

The police had been on the look out for Manichan since October 23 when the arrack supplied by a hooch joint run by a woman, Hyrunnisa, at Kalluvathukkal in Kollam district claimed many lives.

While Hyrunnisa was arrested within a few days of the incident, Manichan's brother Kochani had surrendered before a magistrate a couple of weeks later.

Manichan would be produced before the Paravur Munsif Court either tonight or tomorrow morning, the police said.

The SIT chiefs, Mr. Siby Mathew, and the DIG (Thrivananthapuram range), Mr. Vinson M. Paul, reached the Police Club for further interrogations.

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Section  : Southern States
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