Another infant also fell sick after eating food from a bakery and is under hospital care
Published : 31 Jan 2023, 03:37 PM
Police have arrested four suspects, including a bakery owner, after two children died of poisoning in Gazipur's Salna.
Ashraful Islam, the father of the dead children, filed the case on Monday, said Ziaul Islam, chief of Gazipur Sadar Police Station. Police raided different locations and arrested the four suspects on Monday.
The arrestees are Md Saiful Islam, 48, a native of South Salna, Md Sohel, 48, Shahidul Islam, 25, and Mohammad Hossain from Brahmanbaria.
Saiful is a bakery owner while the others are staff members at the bakery.
On Sunday, factory worker Ashraful Islam’s daughters Ashamoni, 6, and Alifa Akter, 2, died after they ate a piece of cake and patties from the bakery.
An autopsy at the Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital revealed the children died from poisoning.
Police are working to find the motive behind the poisoning. They are focusing on family feuds, previous enmities, and some other leads.
“Initially, we’ve confirmed the children died of poisoning following the autopsy. Now the question is how they consumed poisoned food,” said Shafi Mohaimen, head of the forensic medicine department.
Ashraful lived with his family as tenants at Ershad Hossain’s house in the Ispa Gate neighbourhood in Salna. He and his wife worked in a factory but Ashraful resigned from his job in December. He was scheduled to join a new job on Feb 1 and was at home for the time being, the police officer said.
Safura Begum, the mother, went to work on Sunday morning. Around 10:30 am, Ashraful bought a cake and patties for his daughters from a local shop at their request. The children ate them and were playing around.
“Suddenly, Ashamoni, the elder daughter, fell sick and began to vomit. The doctor declared her dead after she was taken to the hospital. About an hour later, the younger daughter fell sick while in the hospital and died there,” said Ziaul.
As the couple worked, Monowara Begum, the grandmother of the children, used to take care of them, said house owner Ershad. Ashraful bought the cake and patties from Saiful’s shop in the morning and left the house. They fell sick after eating the cake.
The child of another tenant, six-month-old Siam, a cousin of the dead children, also fell sick and is under hospital care, Ershad said.
Alpana Akter, 12, ate the cake at the same time as the children. But nothing happened to her. "Ashamoni began to vomit and Alifa began to scream after they ate it,” she said.
When contacted on Monday evening, the dead children's mother, Safura, said the family was travelling to their village home with the bodies.