Over 34 people have died, and over 100 others have been admitted to the hospital after consuming a batch of poisonous illicit alcohol in India.
According to the Press Trust of India news agency, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin stated that the lethal combination of locally manufactured arrack drink contained dangerous methanol.
Stalin stated arrests had been made in connection with the fatalities and warned that such acts "ruin society and will be suppressed with an iron fist," according to a statement from his office.
Did you read this?
Every year, hundreds of people in India perish from cheap alcohol produced in backstreet distilleries.
To improve its strength, liquor is frequently laced with methanol, which can result in blindness, liver damage, and death.
According to M.S. Prasanth, the state's senior government official in the Kallakurichi area, over 100 people were hospitalised in Tamil Nadu, as reported by Indian media.
R.N. Ravi, the state governor, was "deeply shocked" by the fatalities and said that "many more victims are in serious condition battling for (their) lives" on social networking site X.
Tamil Nadu is not a dry state, although black market spirits are cheaper than legal alcohol.
Selling and consuming spirits is illegal in many other regions of India, which fuels the growing underground market for powerful and occasionally dangerous backstreet moonshine.
Last year, deadly alcohol killed at least 27 individuals in a single session in the eastern Indian state of Bihar.