MUMBAI: A 23-year-old Indian woman was arrested on Friday for allegedly poisoning food served at a feast hosted by a relative that resulted in the deaths of five guests, Hindustan Times reported.
According to the police, her intent was to kill her husband and in-laws, whom she claimed shamed her over her complexion and cooking.
Pradnya Survase a native of Khalapur, about 70 km from Mumbai, confessed to mixing a powder used to kill snakes into the dal that was served to later batches of guests at the feast hosted by her relative Subhas Mane in Mahad on Monday.
A senior inspector of Khalpur police station revealed, “Pradnya claims that since her marriage two years ago, she has been insulted regularly for her dark complexion and accused of not being able to cook well.”
“She has named her mother in-law, Sindhu Survase, husband Suresh Govind Survase, sisters in-law Ujwala Pawar and Jyoti Ashok Kadam, and her mother in-law’s sister Sarita Mane and Sarita’s husband, Subhash Mane for the alleged torture,” the officer said.
Vilash Thikrey, 13, who survived food poisoning said on Monday he remembered the dal tasting “bitter”.
Survase, who is divorced from her first husband, believes her first marriage broke down because another relative, Ulka Shinde, had “cast aspersions on her character”, said police. She alleged Shinde was damaging her second marriage in a similar way.
Shinde had been taunting her [Survase’s] mother in-law for bringing Pradnya into the family. This had led to problems in Pradnya’s married life.
On Monday, Mane had invited more than 120 people to a house-warming in Mahad. Shinde and her family were among the guests. The housewarming ritual was followed by a meal cooked on site by a village cook.
Guests who ate the meal in the evening started complaining of nausea, vomiting and stomach ache a few hours later. About 88 people were hospitalised, while five passed away. Among the deceased was Shinde’s son also.
“We learnt that those who had eaten between 4.30pm and 6pm were suffering from nausea and other issues. We then found out who had served the food then,” said the police official.
Police said that they questioned all of Mane’s relatives including Survase, who confessed to her crime, following sustained interrogation. The police said she had chosen the housewarming because she knew all those she wanted to kill would eat there.
During the interrogation, Survase revealed that she took the powder to Mane’s house and mixed it in the daal when she knew that her targets were sitting down to eat.