7-yo dies in UP village after eating poison-laced toffees, third death in incident

A seven-year-old girl who was taken ill after eating toffees that were found to be poisoned succumbed at a hospital here on Sunday, taking the death toll in the incident to three, police said.

Two sisters Sadhna (7) and Shalini (4) died on Thursday allegedly after consuming toffees in a village in this district, police said.

Two other girls — Versha (7) and Arushi (4) — who lived in the neighbourhood also ate these toffees on Thursday and were hospitalised.

Superintendent of Police Brijesh Kumar Srivastava said, ”Versha succumbed during treatment at a hospital on Sunday morning. The condition of Arushi remains critical.” According to the police complaint lodged by the father of Sadhna and Shalini, the girls were given the poison-laced toffees by their neighbour Shiv Shankar. The police lodged an FIR and arrested the accused on Friday, the SP said.

”Prima facie it appears that the accused had some personal rivalry against the father of the deceased girls. He planted poison-laced toffees to take revenge, he added.

”The accused is currently in police custody and the matter is under investigation,” the SP added.