Inspired by Saddam Hussein, man uses thallium on wife, in-laws
Inspired by former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's tactics to eliminate his political opponents, a 37-year-old real-estate businessman from Delhi's Greater Kailash has been arrested for using thallium to try and kill his wife and her family members. Varun Arora was arrested on Tuesday night for allegedly killing his mother-in-law. His wife has been in a coma since February. Here are more details.
The incident came to light on March 21
The incident came to light on Sunday when Arora's father-in-law Devendra Mohan Sharma, a 62-year-old manufacturer of homeopathy medicines, approached the police. He said that his wife Anita Sharma had died at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and he suspected his son-in-law of murdering her. Sharma alleged that in January, Arora had cooked fish laced with thallium and served it to his family members.
Case of murder registered at Inder Puri Police station
Sources told The Indian Express that forensic experts informed the investigators that Anita had high thallium levels in her blood. "Police also conducted a medical examination of Sharma's elder daughter (Arora's wife, who is in a coma) and in her case too, the thallium levels were high," a police source said. The police has since lodged an FIR under the IPC Section 302 (Murder).
Police conducted raid at Arora's house on Tuesday
On Tuesday evening, the police conducted a raid at Arora's house and recovered his laptop. The police said that they found web pages related to thallium in the device's browsing history as well as about Saddam Hussein using the toxin to eliminate his political rivals. Arora had ordered thallium through an online pharmacist, the police added.
Person who delivered thallium identified Arora, cop says
"We also found out that Arora had ordered thallium through an online pharmacist after claiming that he and his father-in-law were making a homeopathy medicine for coronavirus. We tracked the person who delivered the package and he identified Arora," an officer was quoted as saying.
Arora allegedly wanted to take revenge for a six-year-old incident
About the motive behind the alleged poisoning, the police said Arora wanted to take revenge for an incident that happened years ago. "(After) his wife got pregnant, he believed the child would be his father's reincarnation, but some complications developed and the foetus had to be aborted on the doctor's advice. Arora was against the abortion, but his wife and her family went ahead."
