Hosur (Tamil Nadu), May 26 (IANS) Cracking down on bootleggers after many people died drinking spurious liquor, the Tamil Nadu police have arrested 217 people, among them 85 women, a police official said here Monday. K. Shenbagaraman, deputy inspector general of police, said the arrests were made in a week-long drive.

“To root out the demon of spurious liquor from the soil of Tamil Nadu forever, sterner measures like the invocation of the Goondas Act are being explored. Discussions are also underway with neighbouring states to curb cross-border smuggling in the districts of Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri,” Shenbagaraman said.

The drive comes in the wake of the death of 45 people in Krishnagiri district when they drank country-made liquor mixed with methanol, a poisonous chemical often used by bootleggers to boost intoxication levels of the drink.

The Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri belt is situated some 300 km southwest of Chennai.

Over 240 lives were lost in the two south Indian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu since May 18 due to spurious liquor.

While six police officials were suspended in Tamil Nadu, the Karnataka police initiated action against four policemen besides making dozens of arrests.