Three labourers hailing from a village in Sangli district of Maharashtra died at Alamur village in Rapthadu Mandal of Anantapur district on Thursday afternoon allegedly after consuming arrack they had brought from their State.
The deceased were identified as Bharat Naharkar Chowhan (44), Deepak Jaisingh (40) and Sada (39), all hailing from Saulaji. They had come three days ago for harvesting grapes on a farm in Alamur, which is close to Anantapur.
Deputy Superintendent of Police A. Srinivasulu said the deceased had brought six bottles of liquor from their village when they arrived here along with three other friends. While three persons returned to Maharashtra, three others were working at the grape farm, when they died, he said. “Not many many details are known as their relatives are yet to arrive,” the police official said.
Assistant Prohibition and Excise Superintendent Rangoon Srinivasan Kumareswaran said the three had consumed ‘Desi Daaru’ officially sold by the Maharashtra government and those bottles were found near the bodies.
“Even the cheapest liquor sold by the A.P. Government is of much better quality as during refining in distillation column, traces of sulphur compounds are removed and final alcohol is cooled in a condenser and stored as Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA),” Mr. Kumareswaran explained.
The victims seem to have consumed cheap liquor in more than permissible limits, though the exact cause of death was yet to determined, the Excise officials said.
