Man Kills In-Laws By Serving Food Poisoned With Thallium, Says He Was Inspired By Saddam Hussein

A man killed his mother-in-law and sister-in-law and left his wife comatose after he poisoned their food with thallium.

The suspect, identified as 37-year-old Varun Arora, was arrested Wednesday from his home at the Greater Kailash area, New Delhi, India.

According to the police, on Jan. 31, Arora mixed thallium in the fish curry that was served to his wife’s family.

The suspect told police that he was inspired by Saddam Hussein’s technique of using thallium, a slow poison, to eliminate his opponents.

The Delhi police began the investigation after an autopsy report into the death of Anita Devi Sharma, Arora’s mother-in-law, revealed that there were traces of thallium in the food she had consumed which eventually led to her death. Sharma died on March 22.

"During the further inquiry, it was also revealed that the younger daughter of deceased Anita namely M.s Priyanka also expired during treatment at BL Kapoor Hospital on 15.02.2021. During the enquiry, it came to the notice of Investigation agencies that she also had symptoms of thallium poisoning," Deputy Commissioner of Police Urvija Goel said in a statement.

As the investigation progressed, officers learned that Arora’s wife, identified as Divya, had also fallen sick and is hospitalized. The woman was in a state of coma.

"We also found that Anita’s husband Devender Mohan Sharma also showed symptoms of thallium poisoning. A maid who was working in the couple’s house had also been treated at RML Hospital for similar symptoms. We realized that the family was possibly poisoned with thallium at the same time," she said.

During the inquiry, officers learned that Arora had visited the family in January and had cooked fish curry and served it to the entire family except to the kids in the house.

"Varun had made fish for dinner and had mixed thallium, a slow poison. He himself didn't eat fish citing a jaw pain because of enough laughter that he had after watching a comedy show. The kids in the family had milk, hence, they also didn't eat the fish prepared by him," Goel said.

As the events unfolded, the police narrowed down their suspicion onto Arora.

"Since the chain of events was triggered after the dinner, Arora was detained for questioning. When he was confronted with facts, Arora admitted to having procured thallium and administered it to his mother-in-law Anita, wife Divya, father-in-law Devender Mohan and Priyanka, his sister-in-law," Goel said.

During the interrogation, Arora told the investigators that he and Divya were married for 12 years, but did not have any children. He said that he would constantly receive taunts from his wife’s family for not being able to give them a grandchild.

He told the police that Divya had conceived after his father’s death last year.

"He believed that his father was being reincarnated as his son. However, Divya developed some complications and aborted the child on the advice of her parents and sister, against Arora’s wishes." the Commissioner said.

"He revealed that he had poisoned them to take revenge as they had been allegedly repeatedly humiliating him," she added.

A search was initiated at Arora’s home, during which investigators recovered thallium and other pieces of evidence from the residence.

"When our teams searched his laptop, we found his search history was deleted. So far we did not find any evidence of him having got the idea from Saddam Hussain," Goel said.

Arora remains in police custody. The charges imposed on him are unclear.