Lucknow: The Kaushambi police on Friday arrested a quack in connection with the death of two minors who had died on Thursday morning after consuming ‘poison-laced candies’.
The accused Shiv Shankar (37), a resident of Saurai Buzurg village, was the neighbour of the victims and wanted to settle an old score with the parents of the kids.
SP (Kaushambi) Brijesh Kumar Srivastava said that Shiv Shankar’s house is adjacent to victim’s house and the roofs of their respective houses are connected.
“On Wednesday night, he secretly kept a candy near Varsha Rani (8) when she was sleeping on the roof of her house. When Varsha woke up on Thursday morning, she noticed the candy. She picked it up and went to her cousins. Varsha first tasted the candy and then shared it with her cousins Sadhana (7), Shalini (6) and Arushi (4),” the SP said.
Soon their condition started deteriorating. While Sadhana and Shalini died during the treatment, two other others are still under treatment at Children’s Hospital in Prayagraj.
Srivastava said: “The accused has been arrested and booked under sections 302 (murder) and 328 (causing hurt by means of poison) of IPC. After passing BA (graduation), Shiv Shankar started practicing as quack. While his first wife had allegedly committed suicide a year back, his second wife too consumed poison about two months back and died during treatment.”
The accused told police that after the death of his two wives, locals used to sneer at him.
“He often used to pick up fights with locals, including his neighbours, over petty issues. He wanted to take revenge from locals for insulting him. He purchased biscuits and some toxic substances and prepared the candy,” the official said.
