Raigad, June 22: The death toll in the Khalapur food poisoning incident has risen to five on Friday, whereas seven others are on ventilators. A total of 21 of the 88 patients are still undergoing treatment in various hospitals after being admitted on Monday. People fell ill after eating at a house-warming ceremony in Khalapur taluka’s Mahad village. According to a report published in Hindustan Times, out of five deaths, four were of children.

Three children - Kalyani Shingote, 7, Rishikesh Shinde, 12 and Pragati Shinde, 13 – passed away just within hours after eating the food. As per the report, Pragati’s 11-year-old younger brother Vijay Shinde passed away at Chirayu hospital in Panvel on Thursday afternoon. Vijay was in a critical condition after eating the food. Gopinath Nakure, 53, also passed away at Sukham hospital in Panvel on the same evening.

“Of the 88 patients admitted to various hospitals in Navi Mumbai on Monday, 21 are still being treated in Panvel hospitals. Five patients have died, 18 are in ICU and seven of these 18 patients are on a ventilator,” reported Hindustan Times quoting Purshottam Thorat, tehsildar in charge of Khalapur as saying. Thorat also said that three patients had recovered, but were yet to be discharged. He further added that other three patients at DY Patil hospital in Nerul were discharged on Thursday night.

Raigad police in Maharashtra arrested a 28-year-old housewife Jyoti Suresh Surwase this evening for allegedly poisoning the food prepared for a family event which caused the death of five persons. Anil Paraskar, Superintendent of Police, Raigad said, “She allegedly mixed an insecticide in the daal prepared for a house-warming party given by Subhash Mane, a relative, in Mahad village of Khalapur tehsil on June 18.” Surwase committed the crime as she was fed up with constant taunts from the family and relatives over her complexion and her lack of cooking skills, a police official said.

(With inputs from PTI)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 22, 2018 11:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).