Three children die as food turns poison at housewarming party

Police officers at the house where the incident happened

A housewarming party turned tragic in the wee hours of yesterday after nearly 88 guests took ill on consuming the food served there and had to be rushed to hospitals in Khopoli, Pune and Mumbai. Three of them, all minors, died while undergoing treatment.

The incident took place at the new home of Subhash Ramchandra Mane in Mahad gaothan of Devnahave village in Khalapur taluka. Mane, who hails from Solapur, had built the new house and organised the party on Monday from 11 am till 9.30 pm, during which around 250 guests had lunch or dinner there. The Khalapur police have registered a case against Mane and the caterer, Barashkar Devnaner, under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Food Safety and Standards Act.

In shock
The deceased have been identified as Kalyani Shingude, 7, Hrishikesh Shinde, 12, and Pragati Shinde, 13. An inconsolable Shyam Shinde, father of siblings Hrishikesh and Pragati, told mid-day, "We had shifted to Khopoli from our Ahmednagar village to provide a good education to our children.

"Pragati died en route to MGM hospital in Panvel, while Hrishikesh died at 4 am during treatment. I now wish we had avoided the food." Mane said, "Nearly 100 people complained of food poisoning, including my wife and daughter, and later, neighbour. The menu was simple - papad, puri, brinjal-potato bhaaji, dal, pickle and boondi ladoo. I apologise to each and every family profusely. I am in shock and don't know how this happened..."

Dr Ranjit Mohite from the local Shree Parvati hospital said, "As more and more people were brought in here, I realised they were all emergency cases and needed a well-equipped ICU, which is not available here. Hence, they were sent to bigger hospitals in cities." Eleven are admitted in DY Patil Hospital, Navi Mumbai.

Alert guest
It turns out the number of ill would have been higher had it not been for Navnath Gaikwad, 47, one of the guests, who realised something was wrong with the food and vomited it all out before it made him sick; he even asked many others to follow suit. "My wife and daughter had to be admitted. But doctors said they are stable now," he said.

"On returning home from Mane's residence, my family started complaining of stomachache. I asked them to drink water or soda but soon saw that even several of my neighbours had taken ill. I sensed the situation was serious and drank salt water and vomited it all out. I asked my daughter and wife to do the same but they couldn't. I then went out and asked other families to do this; all those who were able to are fine."

Officialspeak
Tehsildar Purshottam Thorat said, "It's an unfortunate incident, and prima facie, it seems the dal was the culprit. The food was cooked at 11 am and served at 3 pm. Families of the deceased will get compensation from the Chief Minister's relief fund as well as the Rajiv Gandhi fund, while our officials are helping those undergoing treatment in various hospitals."

Local corporator Balkrishna Patil said, "Apart from Mane's neighbours, all other villagers are fine because they had lunch, not dinner, which seems to have been the problem. The caterer the family had arranged was not from our village."

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