Mahottari, November 19:

Five people died while four others have fallen sick in two village development committes of Mahottari district after they drank poisonous homemade liquor yesterday. Jaga Narayan Devi, Laxmi Sada Musahar and Pramod Shah of Mahottari village development committee, and Pramod Lal and Ram Adhar Pandey of Damhimardai VDC died after consuming homemade liquor. And Palat Sada, Rameshwor Sada, Patal Sada Musahar of Mahottari VDC and Ayodi Das of Damhimardai VDC have fallen sick, locals said. The people of Musahar community have been celebrating Kartik Kumar festival for the last four days.

They had consumed the poisonous liquor at the shop of Jaga Narayan Devi. Binod Ghimire, an inspector at the Mahottari District Police Office, confirmed the death of five people of two VDCs. Ghimire, however, said the cause of their death is yet to be known.