2 Dead, 6 Critical After Drinking Tea

Patna: Two women died and six other members of a family were taken ill after consuming tea laced with pesticide at their house in Kaimur district, on Tuesday.

The incident took place in Sotwa village, where four men and two more women are in critical condition, Kuddhni police said. "Two women of a family died soon after consuming the poisonous tea and six are admitted to a private hospital, where their condition remain critical," a district police official said. According to preliminary police investigation, due to an unfortunate oversight someone prepared the tea with 'thimet' (an insecticide) in place of raw tea leaves, police said.

Police are yet to ascertain if the insecticide was accidentally added or was it done on purpose to eliminate the family.

The deceased were identified as Jaswanti Devi (65) and her daughter Sheela Devi (45). The bodies have been sent for postmortem, while the ailing persons were taken to hospital, a police officer said adding a probe was on in the matter.