NAVI MUMBAI: A 23-year-old woman from
Khopoli has been arrested for poisoning food at her relative's house-warming function in Mahad in Raigad on Monday and causing the death of four children and a 53-year-old man.
The accused, Pradnya alias Jyoti Survase, has told the police that she mixed pesticide in the food and served it at the lunch thrown by a relative Subhash Mane as she wanted to kill her husband, mother-in-law, two sisters-in-law and the hosts as they had been humiliating her for her
dark skin since the past two years.
Jyoti's mother-in-law is Mane's sister-in-law (his wife's sister). She also said her in-laws and the Manes had spread lies about her in Latur and that had led to her first marriage breaking down.
Raigad superintendent of police Anil Paraskar said, "The accused got an opportunity to kill her in-laws and the Manes when the latter invited all of them for lunch at the function. She was one of the four relatives who were serving food to guests at the event. She took 'dal' in a small bucket being used to serve and mixed a pesticide that is used as snake poison to it. She then served the dal to her sisters-in-law, Mane's wife and daughter. She could not serve the poisoned dal to her husband, mother-in-law and Subhash Mane as they had already eaten food."
After the serum test reports of two patients had indicated food poisoning due to
organophosphate compound, a pesticide, the police had begun probing if there was a foul play. They had also recovered a empty plastic bag that had pesticide traces from behind Mane's house on the day of the incident.
Jyoti has been booked under Section 302, 307, 328 and 338 of the IPC.
Picture for representational purpose only.