andhian and anti-liquor crusader Sasi Perumal (59) died on Friday during a protest atop a 120-foot-high mobile phone tower near Marthandam, demanding immediate closure of a Tasmac liquor shop at Unnaamalaikkadai in Kanyakumari district on Friday.
Sasi Perumal, after participating in the funeral of former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Thursday, rushed to join the protesting public on Friday and climbed the mobile phone tower with five litres of kerosene and a bundle of cloth around 8.30 a.m., as the residents had warned that some of them would immolate themselves if the shop was not permanently closed.
The town panchayat president and BJP functionary, R. Jayaseelan, accompanied Sasi Perumal. When officials gave an assurance around 1.30 p.m. that the shop would be closed in a day or two, Sasi Perumal, who was gradually losing consciousness, could not get down from the steel structure, which forced the waiting fire and rescue services personnel to climb up to bring him down.
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“Even as he was being brought down with the help of a rope tied around his hip and chest, he was bleeding profusely from the nose and swooned. He breathed his last while being rushed to the Kuzhithurai government hospital,” said a police official.
As tension mounted after the death of the Gandhian, the controversial IMFL shop was closed immediately.
1,000 days of protest
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Ever since the Tasmac’s Indian-made foreign liquor retail outlet was opened in 2012 near a school and a church, the residents of Unnaamalaikkadai town panchayat in Marthandam police station limits have been demanding its closure.
Under the banner, ‘People’s Movement Against Liquor,’ the residents have been organising a sustained protest from October 2, alleging that people who consumed liquor at the outlet were causing problems to students and devotees visiting the place of worship.
When their repeated pleas went unheard, the agitation intensified and the protest entered the 1,000th day on June 30, in which representatives from all political parties, except the AIADMK, participated. Even though officials pacified the protesting residents with the assurance that the IMFL shop would be closed within 15 days, the promise was not kept even after a month.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko, who took out a padayatra from Uvari in Tirunelveli district to Madurai demanding total prohibition in Tamil Nadu, reached the spot and met the anti-liquor protesters.
“The State government alone is answerable for the death of Sasi Perumal and there should be a probe by a Judge of the Madras High Court,” Mr. Vaiko said.
As tension mounted after his death, the controversial IMFL shop was closed immediately