Taunted for skin colour, woman poisons food; five died, 120 fell sick
RAIGAD: She hated it when she was mocked for her dark complexion. Jokes about her cooking also irritated her. And when she was fed up with her relatives' constant taunts, she decided to take action. The 28-year-old allegedly poisoned food at her relative's house-warming party in Maharashtra's Raigad district on Monday. Five people died, including four children, and 120 guests fell sick after consuming the food, police said.
Pragya Survase, a housewife, allegedly mixed insecticide in the food and served it to the guests at her relative Subhash Mane's home in Mahad village. Even children weren't spared.
Soon after the dinner, they complained of stomach aches and began to vomit incessantly. They were rushed to different hospitals one after the other. The police in Mahad, about 75 km from Mumbai, was informed who found out that all of them had eaten at the same event. The food sample sent for analysis confirmed the presence of insecticide, the police said.
They began investigation and found insecticide near the relative's house. The police spoke to the guests and Ms Survase's answers drew their suspicion. She was further interrogated after which she confessed to poisoning the food to avenge humiliation.
She was arrested and a case of murder, attempt to murder and other offences was filed against her.
Ms Survase, who got married two years ago, was often criticised for her dark complexion and lack of cooking skills, police said. She held a grudge against her family and relatives and eventually decided to kill them all, police said.
When she was invited to a relative's house-warming party, she sensed an opportunity. She showed up at the event, poisoned the food and helped serve it.
Four children between the ages of seven to 13 and a 53-year-old man died of food poisoning, an officer said.
"She has confessed to the crime citing marital, family disputes. Further investigations are on," said Raigad Superintendent of Police Anil Paraskar told news agency ANI.
Five days later, several victims are still undergoing treatment at the hospital while others have been discharged.
courtesy : ndtv.com
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Jhansi fire: Nurse's heroic efforts helped save over dozen babies
Lucknow/Jhansi (UP), Nov 17: Nurse Megha James was on duty when the fire broke out at the Jhansi hospital and she threw herself headlong into the rescue efforts, playing a hero's role by saving several babies.
Even when her salwar got burned, she refused to give up and was able to evacuate 14-15 babies with others' help.
"I had gone to take a syringe to give an injection to a child. When I came back, I saw that the (oxygen) concentrator had caught fire. I called the ward boy, who came with the fire extinguisher and tried to put it out. But by then, the fire had spread," James said.
Ten babies perished in a fire that broke out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi Friday night.
Faced with an enormous blaze, James's mind worked with a frenetic speed, to the extent she cared little about burning herself.
"My chappal caught fire and I burned my foot. Then my salwar caught fire. I removed my salwar and discarded it. At that time, my mind was virtually not working," she told PTI Videos.
James just wore another salwar and went back to the rescue operation.
"There was a lot of smoke, and once the lights went out, we could not see anything. The entire staff brought out at least 14-15 children. There were 11 beds in the ward with 23-24 babies," she said.
Had the lights not gone out they could have saved more children, James said. "It all happened very suddenly. None of us had expected it."
Assistant Nursing Superintendent Nalini Sood praised James's valour and recounted bits from how the rescue operation was carried out.
"The hospital staff broke the glasses of the NICU ward to evacuate the babies. It was then Nurse Megha's salwar caught fire. Instead of caring for her safety, she stayed there to rescue the babies and handed them over to people outside," she said.
Sood said James is currently undergoing treatment at the same medical college. She said she did not know the extent of her burns.
"The rescued babies were shifted to a ward very close to the NICU ward… When I recall the scene, I feel like crying," she said.
Dr Anshul Jain, the head of the anaesthesiology department at the medical college, explained the standard rescue operation and claimed the hospital followed the protocol to the T.
"In the triage process during an ICU evacuation, the policy is to evacuate less-affected patients first. The rationale behind this approach is that patients requiring minimal support can be relocated quickly, enabling a larger number of evacuations to be completed in a shorter time.
"In contrast, patients on ventilators or requiring high oxygen support demand more time and resources for evacuation," he said.
"This principle was successfully implemented in Jhansi, playing a significant role in saving many lives," Jain said.
A newborn rescued from the fire died due to illness on Sunday, Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said.
