More than 13 members of the same family were poisoned by a girl with the help of her love interest on August 17, reveals a BBC Urdu report. The incident happened in the village of Keti Pir Pagara in the Sindh region, where a family suddenly became ill after eating food and fainted one by one.
The police was able to arrest the girl after a hectic investigation.
The incident
Relatives of the family took all the victims to the hospital as they suspected food poisoning.
The report reveals that the incident happened while a flood-like situation arose in Keti Pir Pagara after monsoon rains and the family’s village was also surrounded by water.
30-year-old Ghulam Asghar and 10-year-old Dildar died during treatment. The next day, seven more people died, and within a few days, the number reached 13.
Khairpur district police suspected that the deaths were not caused by food poisoning.
Although the relatives of the deceased family did not file a case with the police, the police registered a case making the state a party.
Police Investigation
In the initial investigation, the police found out that the two members of the deceased family, a boy and a girl, were alive, and they did not suffer from any medical condition even though they had eaten the same food as their family. This raised suspicions among the local police officials.
The police tried their best to autopsy the dead, but family members did not agree. However, the police managed to autopsy two family members who breathed their last in the hospital.
The post-mortem and chemical analysis of both bodies revealed the presence of two chemicals which are common in sleeping pills and agricultural drugs.
This prompted the police to expand the scope of their investigation.
DSP Malhir Pattu told BBC Urdu that relatives refused to let the girl be questioned while the police also learned that the suspect boy also escaped after leaving his father at the hospital. He did not even come for his father’s burial after his death.
Local informants told the police that the suspect wanted to marry his cousin, but his parents were not willing to do so.
During the police investigation, it came to light that the boy told his cousin, “I will bring you such a poison, feed it to your family, then the problem will be solved, and we will get married.”
Confession of the boy
The boy has said in a statement given to the Khairpur police, “My cousin (accused) and I were in love.”
The FIR states that at seven o’clock in the evening, the boy brought poison to his cousin and asked her to put it in the food. The family felt dizzy and fainted after consuming the food.
Police have obtained physical remand of both the suspects for four days.
