Thane horror: Woman arrested for poisoning 3 minor daughters with pesticide-laced food; cites domestic Issues

NEW DELHI: A 27-year-old woman was arrested on Sunday for allegedly poisoning her three minor daughters to death in Maharashtra’s Thane district, due to distress over domestic issues, police said. The woman, identified as Sandhya Sandeep Bere, a housewife residing in Talepada locality of Asnoli village under the Shahapur area, is accused of mixing pesticide into varan bhat (traditional rice and lentil dish) and serving it to her daughters aged 5, 8, and 10 on July 20, a senior police official said to news agency PTI. Soon after consuming the meal, the girls began vomiting and experienced dizziness. They were rushed to a local hospital.

As their condition worsened, two of them were shifted to a hospital in Mumbai, where they died on July 24 and July 25. The third child was taken to a hospital in Nashik, where she died on July 24, the official added. Initially, a case of accidental death was registered at the Khinavli police station. However, the postmortem reports received on Saturday night revealed the presence of poison in the children’s bodies. Based on this crucial forensic evidence, police registered a case of murder against Sandhya and arrested her around 2am on Sunday.

According to police, the woman had been facing serious domestic issues, including alleged alcohol abuse by her husband. She had separated from him and was struggling to raise her daughters on her own, which may have driven her to commit the crime. Her in-laws had raised suspicions about her involvement in the deaths, prompting police to initially detain her for questioning. Her arrest followed the confirmation in the autopsy reports. Further investigation is underway, police said.