Four people, including two children, were killed while half-a-dozen others fell ill due to drinking poisonous tea in Mainpuri district, police said on Tuesday.
A senior doctor at the Saifai Medical College, where the victims were admitted, told mediapersons that the tea appeared to have been laced with pesticide. The police also found a packet of pesticide powder in the house in Nagla Kanhai village where this incident took place. The bodies were sent for autopsy and viscera despatched to the Agra forensic science laboratory.
According to police sources, the deaths occurred in the house of Shiv Nandan in Nagla Kanhai during Bhai Dooj celebrations. Shiv Nandan’s father-in-law had arrived from Firozabad for the occasion.
Nandan’s wife Madhu had prepared tea for her father Ravindra Singh and others. Shortly after drinking the tea, everyone felt sick while Nandan’s sons Divyansh and Shivang fell unconscious.
Nandan and his brother Sobran became unconscious after a froth-like substance oozed out of their mouths.
They were rushed to the Mainpuri district hospital but Ravindra Singh, Shivang and Divyansh had died by then. Sobran Singh and Shivnandan were referred to Saifai Medical College, where Sobran died while Shivnandan’s condition was stated to be critical.
Mainpuri SSP Kamlesh Dixit said: “Prima facie, it appears to be a case of pesticide poisoning, but whether it was a deliberate act or accident is a matter of investigation. ADG (Agra Zone) Rajiv Krishna instructed the Mainpuri SSP to conduct a thorough probe into the case.
Meanwhile, a highly decomposed body of an unidentified man was recovered from a locked toilet of the Amritsar-bound Janseva Express at Roza station in Shahjahanpur district. The deceased was apparently in his 30’s.
Sub-inspector (GRP) Karunesh Chandra Shukla said the body remained undetected for about 900 km from Bihar’s Banmankhi junction to Shahjahanpur. The incident came to light only when some passengers complained of putrid smell emanating from the washroom.
The rail staff broke open the washroom door and found the decomposed body. The train left for Amritsar after a five-hour halt. “The deceased was clad in a green shirt and a pair of blue trousers. We did not find his ID card. Information has been shared with other GRP stations. The door was bolted from inside and apparently there was no foul play. The autopsy report suggests that the man may have died before the train departed from Banmankhi. The staff who washed the train there should have been more alert,” the GRP SI said.
Dr Sanjay Rai from railway hospital said the body was at least three days old. “The man died after possibly slipping into a coma. There were no injury marks on the body,” Rai added.