Jaipur, Sep 26 (IANS) Five members of a family died after mistakenly drinking poisoned tea in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district Monday, police said.


Police suspect that Manni Devi, 47, used insecticide thinking it to be tea leaves as both looked exactly alike, leaving her husband Ojha, three children - Lokesh Kumar, 9, Chetan, 17, and Kailash, 16 - and herself dead in Bhilwara's Jalia village, some 250 km from Jaipur.

"It seems that the woman mistakenly put insecticide instead of tea leaves. However, we are not ruling out the possibility of suicide,” said a police officer.

“Insecticide used in making tea by Manni Devi looks exactly similar to the tea leaves. It seems that she was unaware that her husband had got home the insecticide bottle the day earlier and used it mistakenly. After being mixed with water, the insecticide is used for spraying on crops,” said the officer.

All of the family members fell unconscious and were rushed to a hospital. Four of them were declared brought dead. Manni Devi died while undergoing treatment.

“We have conducted the postmortem and sent the blood samples for forensic examination,” said the officer.