Date:12/02/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/02/12/stories/2004021203700600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Two die after consuming toddy

By Our Staff Reporter

NIZAMABAD, FEB. 11. Tension prevailed in Armoor town, 26 km from here, today as the workers of the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the CPI (ML-New Democracy) party staged a `rasta roko' and ransacked a toddy depot following the death of two persons who consumed toddy in an unlicensed shop.

Reports reaching here said two persons, identified as Anand, 32, and Nizamuddin, 25, of Armoor town, reportedly consumed toddy in a shop near the Mahalaxmi temple in the town late last night. They immediately collapsed and died on the spot.

As news about the death spread, a large number of people made a beeline for the toddy shop. Political activists also rushed to the spot. They, along with the local people, brought the bodies to the Nizamabad-Armoor main road and staged a dharna. The police, led by the Station House Officer, Chatur Singh Rathod, rushed to the spot, and resorted to a mild lathicharge to disperse the mob.

The police forcibly took away the bodies to the Armoor Civil Hospital for post mortem examination. The mob did not budge and followed the police and staged a dharna at the hospital. Relatives and others demanded that stern action be taken against the persons who ran the unlicensed toddy shop.