Chhatrapur: With the death of Kumari, the wife of BSNL lineman Banambar Pradhan of this town in Ganjam district, all three members of his family, who took ill Thursday died due to suspected food poisoning.
Banambar’s 23-year-old daughter Kamalini first died at the sub-divisional hospital here Wednesday morning while his son Soumyaranjan who was shifted to MKCG Medical College and Hospital succumbed the same night there.
Kumari was shifted to a private hospital in Bhubaneswar as her condition deteriorated. However, she died at the state capital in the wee hours of Thursday.
The three bodies reached Reddy Bahadapalli in the afternoon and a joint cremation was conducted in the village.
On the other hand, Rambha IIC Namita Nayak along with a team of police reached Banambar’s house and seized the rice, cauliflower curry and plates. The food sample would be sent to Bhubaneswar for examination, Nayak said.
Meanwhile, Chhatrapur SDPO Ramesh Chandra Sethy interrogated Banambar after taking stock of the situation.
According to Banambar, the whole family had the same dish in the dinner Tuesday night but except for him three others took ill and started vomiting. Soon, Banambar administered them some tablets to stop vomiting. Later, he bought injections from a nearby drug house and administered them with the help of a local pharmacist as there was no recovery. Kamalini was given a bottle of saline also, it was learnt.
As their condition didn’t show any sign of improvement Wednesday morning, the three were rushed to the sub-divisional hospital.
While Kamalini died at Chhatrapur, Soumya and Kumari succumbed in Berhampur and Bhubaneswar respectively.
Banambar also consumed the food but didn’t develop any health complications.
Apart from Banambar, police are questioning the medicine shop owner and the pharmacist in the matter.
The reason of the deaths of three is yet to be ascertained, police said.
PNN
