The patients were taken to V N Desai Hospital. (Amit Chakravarty)

TWENTY guests at a wedding reception in Bandra East were rushed to the hospital after suffering from food poisoning on Sunday night.

Between late Sunday to Monday afternoon, three children — Anas Shaikh (4), who is suffering from diarrhoea, Altamas Shaikh (10) and Saad Shaikh (12) — and eight women were admitted to V N Desai Hospital. The remaining nine guests were treated at the OPD and discharged.

While the eight women, along with Altamas and Saad, were discharged later in the day on Monday, Anas is still in the hospital. “Anas will remain under treatment for another day until the diarrhoea comes under control,” said Dr Rajeshree Jadhav, Medical Superintendent at VN Desai Hospital.

All others are stable, she said, adding that patients started coming in with complaints of vomiting from 10 pm on Sunday.

Rajendra Patil, senior inspector in Kherwadi police station, said no FIR has been registered in the case. “We have made an entry in our records about the case. Those who fell ill and the caterers were all close family members,” he added.

According to Mushtaq Shaikh, whose wedding reception was held on Sunday at the Samaj Mandir hall, many of his family members and friends started feeling uneasy after eating dinner served at the party. Around 600 to 800 guests had attended the party.

“I was on stage so I could not understand what was happening initially. We believe that because of the heat, the food got stale. We have been getting food cooked for our family functions by the same caterer for years,” Shaikh said, adding that all arrangements were made by his brother.

“Nobody is critically ill,” he said. The Food and Drug Administration was, however, unable to collect any food sample from the function. Food Safety Officer Nilesh Khose said: “We came to know about the incident on Monday afternoon. By then, no food items from the dinner were left. We are waiting for the police to locate the caterer. We may collect raw material used for cooking.”