Guest guest Posted March 9, 2008 Report Share Posted March 9, 2008 Adultration is high in India - it can happen to be any product- and there are not many checks. Lokesh Dwaipayan Ghosh | TNN New Delhi: A 26-year-old man died, while two of his friends and a shopkeeper fell ill, after consuming a soft drink in Seelampur area of north-east Delhi. The police suspect that the drink, which was being sold under the name of a multinational company, was adulterated and have sent the samples for a lab test. The incident happened around 7.45 pm on Friday and all four victims were residents of Chauhan Bangar. They were rushed to LNJP hospital where Kamaruddin (26) was declared dead around 9.30 pm, said his family members. The other victims — cousins Sabbab Ahmed (30), Mohammad Arshad (25) and shopkeeper Jamil Ahmed (40) — were reported to be out of danger. All of them had taken a sip out of the bottle from which Kamaruddin was drinking, after he complained that the drink had a weird taste. The Seelampur police has registered a case under IPC sections 272 (for adulterating food/drink intended for sale) and 304A (for causing death due to negligence). ''We have sent samples of the soft drink for a lab test and seized all other bottles kept at the shop. We have detained a few people for questioning and are waiting for the postmortem report to ascertain the cause of death,'' said a senior police officer. A spokesperson of the soft drink company said incidents of adulteration rise during summer. ''We raided some spurious packaging units in Azadpur and Rohtak last season,'' he said. The distributor in charge of Seelampur, Moon Beverages, meanwhile said they are waiting for the lab test reports. According to one of the victims, Sabbab, he had joined Kamaruddin and the others for a drink after returning home from Ghaziabad. ''I was not too keen to go with him to the shop, but did not resist when I saw that my cousin was already there. Kamaraddin even offered to pay for my drink. We bought three bottles of a soft drink.'' Kamaruddin took two to three big sips. ''He immediatly complained that the taste was strange — almost like soap water. Then, Arshad and I took a sip each from our own bottles, and found it to be true. When Kamaruddin complained to the shopkeeper, he too drank from his bottle to verify the claim. Within minutes, Kamaruddin started frothing at the mouth and soon after, we lost consciousness,'' said Sabbab. The shopkeeper, who's also undergoing treatment at LNJP, said he had picked up 24 bottles of the soft drink from a distributor in Brahmpuri about four days back. ''This was the first lot for summer. I had sold four bottles to other customers on Friday morning and none of them had complained,'' Jamil told TOI. Kamaruddin's father Ektisasuddin (55), who owns a garage, said his son was to be married in another two months. ''On Friday, we were busy making preparations for his wedding when he told us that he was going to get a cold drink. He never returned,'' sobbed his father. He has two more sons and three daughters. Kamaruddin was the eldest. dwaipayan.ghosh (AT) timesgroup (DOT) com TRAGIC END: Kamaruddin's (left) family said he was to be married in another two months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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