A 32-year-old woman was detained by the police in Shamli district after she allegedly poisoned her three minor children late Tuesday night, leading to the death of two of them even as the youngest is battling for her life at a Meerut hospital.
The police detained Salma Saad, who lives in Panjeeth village at Kairana town in Shamli district, after her husband Mursaleen Saad, who works in Delhi, filed an FIR against her and her mother Vakila (60) at Kairana Kotwali police station on Wednesday.
The police are yet to interrogate Vakila, who was allegedly present at her daughter's house when the incident took place on Tuesday night, the police said.
According to the police, Salma mixed poison in water and gave it to her two sons and daughter. The condition of the eldest, Mohammed Saad (8), deteriorated late on Tuesday night and he died before he could get medical care, the police said.
Misbah (4) and one-and-a-half-year-old Mantasha were rushed to the primary health centre in Kairana, from where they were referred to a Meerut hospital. Misbah died at the hospital and Mantasha is still critical, the police added.
Mursaleen, who works in a furniture outlet in Delhi, rushed to the village early Wednesday morning after being informed about the incident by his younger brother Naushad.
“The mother is in our custody and we are yet to interrogate her and also her mother has not been detained yet. Our preliminary inquiry has revealed that the husband and wife did not have a good rapport and had been fighting with each other frequently. The husband had gone back to his work on Monday morning and the neighbours told us that they had a fierce fight on Sunday night,” Pankaj Parashar, in-charge of Kotwali police station, said.
Further investigations are on in the matter.