‘Death of 9 people doesn't appear to be suicide; bodies were dragged and thrown into well’

Shillong, May 9: The poisonous mushrooms that killed six people at a remote village in Meghalaya's West Jaintia Hills district have been identified as Amanita phalloides, commonly known as the 'Death Cap', a senior official said on Saturday.

Six people, including a 14-year-old girl, of Lamin village along the India-Bangladesh border in Amlarem civil sub-division died after consuming wild mushrooms they collected from a nearby forest late last month.

The wild mushroom has been identified as Amanita phalloides and is hepatotoxic as it directly affects the liver, state Director of Health Services (MI) Dr Aman War told PTI.

He said it has been established after an investigation that the cause of the deaths was the poisonous mushrooms.

At least 18 persons from three families were taken ill after consuming the mushrooms.

The symptoms after consuming the poisonous fungus include vomiting, headache and unconsciousness, the senior doctor said.

Most of those taken ill, including a pregnant woman, have already recovered and gone home. Therefore, people can survive as it depends on the amount of poison that you have consumed. Only one person was unaffected, maybe he did not consume much, he said.

Three people are still undergoing treatment and are recovering. Two of them are at the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) and one in Woodland Hospital, Dr War said.

He said the health department can only appeal to the people, especially those in the rural areas, to refrain from eating wild mushrooms, while the horticulture department should take measures to create awareness.

Jaipur, Mar 18: Initially buried as per Islamic traditions, an unidentified man's body was exhumed and later cremated after he was found to be a Hindu in Rajasthan's Tonk district, police said.

The family members identified the body of Mahaveer Sahu on Tuesday, a day after the burial, as they stumbled upon photos of the deceased that had circulated on social media.

The man was brought to a government hospital by locals in an unconscious state on March 12 and he died on March 13, according to Purani Tonk police station SHO Shivlal.

The man was said to be a liquor addict and was found unconscious on the road, he added.

The body was kept at the mortuary for three days awaiting identification. Despite efforts to trace the next of kin, the identity could not be ascertained and members of Hindu and Muslim communities were brought in to take a decision, Shivlal said.

The community leaders presumed that he was a Muslim after examining the body and the burial took place as per Islamic funeral traditions on Monday, he added.

Meanwhile, Sahu's family members saw the photo of his body that had circulated on a WhatsAapp group and identified him later that day. They rushed to the hospital and then to the police station in the night where they were informed that the body had been buried.

“The body was exhumed with permission from the sub-divisional magistrate on Tuesday and handed over to the family members after proper identification. Members of the Muslim community led by an Imam were also present and gave in writing that they have no objection,” Shivlal said.

The body was later cremated by his family members.

Palghar, Mar 7: Police have arrested a man for allegedly cheating several shopkeepers in Maharashtra's Thane, Pune and Nashik by making phone calls in a woman's voice, police said on Friday.

The accused, Shashikant Ambekar (42), a resident of Palghar, was arrested in the last week of February, they said.

"He used to note down the phone numbers mentioned on different shops and call the owners in a woman's voice to order some things from them. He would tell them that he had a Rs 2000 currency note and needed change," an official said.

"He would ask the shopkeepers to send smaller denomination notes for exchange. He would wait at the entrance of buildings and when the delivery man arrived, he used to tell that he was there on behalf of the ''caller woman''.

"He would then take the currency notes from the delivery man saying he would get the Rs 2,000 note from the woman. However, he would disappear from the scene," the official said.

Police have seized Rs 1,85,000 from the accused and found that so far he has committed 22 similar crimes in different parts of the state.