In Kharve village of Chhattisgarh's Balodabazar district, eight people died one after another over four months, and for a long time, no one suspected anything beyond bad luck or illness. What police investigation has now uncovered, however, has left the entire region in shock: officers have arrested a man from the same village on charges of poisoning eight people to death and attempting to murder a ninth, allegedly by mixing a toxic substance into their alcohol.
Police said their probe revealed a chilling detail: before targeting people, the accused allegedly first tested the poison on a dog. He is then said to have begun targeting people he knew personally, procuring a toxic substance called "suhaga", which he allegedly passed off as rat poison, and mixing it into alcohol he offered to his victims.
Given the scale of the case, police exhumed seven bodies and sent them to Raipur for post-mortem and forensic examination; one victim had already been cremated before suspicions arose. Investigators said it was a combination of technical evidence and sustained questioning of villagers that eventually led them to the accused.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the case, police said, is how the accused operated in plain sight. After each death, he allegedly positioned himself as a helpful, sympathetic neighbour, assisting in rushing victims to hospital and even participating in their last rites, all to ensure no suspicion fell on him. It was only sustained police investigation that eventually exposed what authorities describe as his true, chilling face.
Sudhanshu Mishra is a Senior Copy Editor at Times Now. While his day-to-day work centres on news, his writing interests lie in the intersections of cu...View More
Source: India Latest News, Breaking News Today, Top News Headlines | Times Now
