VIJAYAWADA: The Two Town police are groping in the dark in their probe into the recent liquor tragedy at Brahmana Veedhi that claimed the lives of four persons as the accused, who allegedly mixed methanol with IML liquor (ethanol) also lost his life after consuming it.The report of the Forensic science lab (FSL), Hyderabad, has clearly said methanol caused the deaths as it was mixed with ethanol (ethyl alcohol or liquor).Excise and police officials had initially ruled out methanol-ethanol blending being responsible for the Brahmana Veedhi tragedy because the symptoms of the victims were found to be dissimilar to those of the victims of Mylavaram liquor tragedy which was blamed solely on methanol. Now, police are probing the Vijayawada case from the methanol angle.Speaking to Express, commissioner of police N Madhusudan Reddy said they had received FSL’s report on Thursday saying that methanol was the cause of the deaths. But police are finding it hard to forge ahead in their probe since the accused, Edi Subrahmanyam (32) too died along with three others after consuming it.The two survivors, Tamada Prakash and Rampally Nagaraju, told the police that they had no idea as to what exactly they had consumed but said they drank from an IML liquor bottle on the night of May 10. But sources in the excise department say that Subrahmanyam, a divorcee, was addicted to alcohol and drugs, and had treatment at the mental hospital at Erragadda in Hyderabad.The Mylavaram liquor tragedy was also due to consumption of methanol. Police arrested Nimmagadda Saratchandra, owner of Sri Kiran Scientific Traders here, as he had sold methanol illegally.Excise and police have knowledge of methanol sellers in the city but do not know from where Subrahmanyam had purchased the methanol or did he mix some other chemical that had methanol in it.Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, is a chemical used in the production of plastic, plywood, paints, explosives and permanent press textiles. “Nail polish, whitener and some other products also contain methanol. It is very difficult to find out whether he directly mixed methanol or some other substance which contained methanol,” said a police official.When contacted, Two Town circle inspector S.Prasad Rao said they were trying to trace the source from where the methanol was purchased by Subrahmanyam.
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