4 die after drinking hand sanitiser in separate incidents in Andhra’s Tirupati

HYDERABAD: Even as the Andhra Pradesh police is investigating the death of 10 people by consuming hand sanitiser in Prakasam district last month, four more died in a similar manner in separate incidents in the temple town of Tirupati on Friday.

The victims – Veeraiah, Kumaraswamy, Venkataratnam and Srinivasulu – belonging to Scavengers’ Colony in Tirupati town succumbed at SVRR government general hospital, where they were admitted by their relatives on Thursday evening.

“Their families told us that they were alcoholics and might have consumed sanitiser as they could not get liquor due to the lockdown. We are awaiting the forensic report to confirm if they consumed only hand sanitiser or anything else,” Tirupati (urban) superintendent of police A Ramesh Reddy said.

“There are three dealers supplying hand sanitisers in the town but there is no evidence of all the four buying it from the same shop and consuming it together. Investigation is on,” Reddy said. “Our enquiries with their families revealed that they were financially sound,” he said.

Tirupati East police has registered a case under Section 176 of Criminal Procedure Code (suspicious death). YSR Congress party MLA from Tirupati Bhumana Karunakar Reddy visited the hospital and called on the families of the four victims.

Earlier in July, 10 persons had died after consuming alcoholbased sanitiser at Kurichedu town in Prakasam district within a span of two days.

TIRUPATI EAST POLICE HAS REGISTERED A CASE UNDER SECTION 176 OF CRPC (SUSPICIOUS DEATH)