Wife on ventilator, her mother, sister die in hospital
A 27-year-old man in Delhi who allegedly poisoned his wife and her family using thallium in fish curry was arrested by the Delhi Police on Thursday. His mother-in-law Anita Devi Sharma and sister-in-law Priyanka died of poisoning, while his wife Divya is on ventilator.
The accused identified as Varun Arora, a resident of Greater Kailash, was inspired by former Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein, who was known to use thallium, a slow poison, to eliminate political opponents.
Police found during the investigation that the accused was reading articles on internet related to former Iraqi president Saddam.
Police said Arora is a builder by profession. The main trigger for Arora’s anger against his wife was that she had aborted their baby defying his wish with help from her family.
According to Urvija Goel, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), West district, on Monday, police got information that Anita, a resident of Inder Puri, was declared dead at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
“The doctors had opined that death was caused by thallium poisoning, detected in blood and urine of the patient. During enquiry, it was found that daughter of deceased Divya was also admitted in the ICU ward and she was subjected to the same thallium poisoning for which she is undergoing treatment. She is on ventilator support,” said the DCP.
Priyanka, the younger daughter of Anita, died during the treatment on February 15.
“Devender Mohan Sharma, Divya’s father, and their maid too had symptoms of thallium poisoning,” said the DCP.
“Police found that deceased’s son-in-law Arora had visited the family in January and brought cooked fish for them. After the registration of the case, Arora was interrogated where he admitted to have procured thallium and also administered it to his mother-in-law Anita, wife Divya, father-in-law Devender Mohan and sister-in-law Priyanka to take revenge from them. The accused alleged that he was humiliated by his in-laws,” said the DCP.
“At the instance of Arora, thallium was recovered from his house at Greater Kailash. The accused also told police that when his father had died, his wife got pregnant during the same period. He thought that his father was again coming to his family,” said the DCP.
“However, when his wife tested, the doctors said there were some complications and her life was in danger. She told this to her husband and asked to abort the child, for which he refused. The woman later discussed the matter with her parents and aborted the baby with the help of her family. When the accused got to know about it, he planned to take revenge from his in-laws,” the DCP added.
