Mystery still shrouds the death of five persons in the sweepers' colony at South Kamalapur under Shabujbagh thana between Thursday and Saturday.

Some local people told this correspondent yesterday that all the five persons died after drinking spurious liquor. But police were unable to give the exact reason for the deaths saying that no case was filed and that all the dead bodies were cremated without autopsy.

Both police and the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) admitted that five persons died in that area during the last three days. But a high official of DNC said yesterday that preliminary investigation proved that among the five, two died of jaundice, one of tuberculosis, one of heart failure and another from diarrohea.

During a visit to the TT Para slum in the sweepers' colony, this correspondent found a number of youngmen from different segments of society taking Phensidyl. a banned sedative drug.

But most of the colony residents remained tight lipped and expressed their annoyance when asked about the death of the five persons.

The IT Para slum is situated just behind the southern end of the Inland Container Depot (1CD) at the Kamalapur Railway Station. A number of slums like the Gopibagh slum, are close to

People living around the slum area alleged that drugs and drinks like heroine, phen-sidyl. Marijuana, and 'panl' (local brew) are freely available in the slums.

Youths, teenaged boys and people from low Income groups are regular customers there, tne residents added.

When asked about the claims made in this regard by the residents, the DNC Official said that the area was raided several times during the last six months.

The DNC also seized large quantities of narcotic drugs and arrested at least 70 people from the area in this connection, the official added.