The Tamil Nadu Crime Branch - Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID) on Sunday, June 23, arrested Sivakumar, who was the main supplier of methanol used to distill the illicit liquor that killed 56 people in Kallakurichi. A resident of Chennai’s Red Hills, Sivakumar was allegedly hiding in Chennai’s MGR Nagar, from where the police arrested him. 

As of Sunday, 157 people who consumed the illicit liquor are under treatment in four different hospitals in and around Kallakurichi district.

Read: Ground Report: Lethal nexus of bootlegger and corrupt cops led to Kallakurichi tragedy

It is known that Sivakumar was supplying the lethal chemical methanol to two people — Joseph aka Raja, and Madesh, who supplied illicit liquor from Kalvarayan Hills in Chennai and Pondicherry respectively. Both Joseph and Madesh were selling distilled illicit liquor to a man named Chinnadurai, who in-turn was supplying it to Kannukutty, the end seller who sold the illicit liquor in Kallakurichi’s Karunapuram village. 

While Kannukutty was arrested on Wednesday, June 19, Chinnadurai, Joseph, and Madesh were all arrested by the CB-CID on Friday, June 21. Kannukutty, along with his wife Vijaya and brother Dhamodharan, have been placed under judicial custody until July 3.