NASHIK, November 27: Following the deaths of four persons at Nanegaon, illicit brew claimed the life of another farm labourer at Lasalgaon, taking the death toll to five.According to police, a grape farmer Uddhav Holker from Lasalgaon hired five labourers to work in his vineyard. On Tuesday night, they consumed an illicit brew containing a pesticide, Acetone and had to be hospitalised the next morning. One of them, Damu Somu Gavit, died. The condition of the other four is stable. On Friday, four farm labourers died after consuming liquor containing methyl alcohol, also known as French Polish. The deceased had been hired by a Nanegaon grape farmer. The police arrested five persons including the farmer, Dattu Dhivram Adke.French polish, used for manufacturing liquor, is widely available even though the excise department issues licenses and controls the distribution of the chemical. In a bid to shirk responsibility, excise officials have declared that the killer brew was not French Polish, but wood polish over which they have no control. The fact is that licencees of spirits and chemicals such as methyl alcohol are politically well-connected and the misuse of licences cannot be ruled out.
