NASHIK, Nov 24: Five persons have been remanded to police custody till November 26, in connection with the illicit liquor tragedy, which claimed four lives in the early hours of Friday at Nanegaon.The names of those arrested have been given as Dattu Shivram Adke, Bharat Shivram Adke, Kisan Shivram Adke, Ramchandra Shivram Adke, and Ramdas Bhike Palade.Dattu had hired about 20 labourers from Valsad, Gujarat, to work in his grape farm at Nanegaon, near Deolali Camp. He had promised them daily wages of Rs 40 to men and Rs 25 to the two women in the group. However, on November 20, there was an altercation over wages between him and the labourers. To pacify them, he served them the homemade illicit liquor.In the early hours of Friday, a labourer, Bailu Dahau Papu (52) was found dead, while seven others vomitted. Dattu bundled them up in his jeep and took them to a private clinic, at Nashik Road, where they were treated.On their return to the farm, the wife of the deceased labourer, Sayaji Sailu, died. Other labourers insisted that they be transported to their native places. Dattu took them in his vehicle, but before they could cross the Maharashtra-Gujarat border, two labourers, Balu Baban Jadhav and Tulji Pandu Tungada, died. Two others, Ramji Zula Bhusara and Raman Dhakla Galat were admitted to the Harsul rural hospital. The deceased were then handed over to their relatives.Two more labourers were subsequently admitted to Balsad hospital, their names being Seetaram Noji Gahala and Shivrambhai Bhusara. The condition of all the four admitted to hospitals, is improving. The killer brew is suspected to be Methyl Alchohol, popularly known as French Polish.
