Coming close on the heels of a recent incident in Prakasam, alcohol addiction has cost a person’s life in Kadapa district who died on Sunday after consuming sanitiser.
Obulesu, hailing from Pendlimarri town in the district, consumed sanitiser late on Saturday by diluting it with water. He breathed his last at the Rajiv Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) where he was admitted for treatment.
The exorbitant cost of liquor at government-run retail outlets and the easy availability of hand sanitisers in the wake of Covid-19 are learnt to be the reasons for guzzlers opting this method.
Though news initially made rounds that ten persons had consumed sanitiser and three of them had died, police brushed aside these reports as ‘baseless’ and pegged the number at one.
Chenna Reddy alias Bheemaiah was also believed to have consumed sanitiser and died, but police attributed his death to some other reasons. Another unidentified person died three days back due to a disease and his body was immediately buried by his relatives, with the reason of death being attributed to sanitiser consumption.
“All these reports hold no truth. Only Obulesu died after consuming sanitiser”, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Kadapa) U. Suryanarayana confirmed to The Hindu.
Meanwhile, the police rushed five liquor addicts to the de-addiction centre at RIMS. They have reportedly consumed sanitiser for a high, but are reportedly maintaining stable health at present.
