Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (HB/SP)

Udupi, Oct 26: In an ufortunate incident, a woman who mistakenly consumed papaya fruit added with rat poison lost her life on the evening of Saturday October 24.

Shreemathi (43), wife of Vaman Naik, residing at Devaragunda, Kudi village in the taluk, lost her life after consuming papaya mixed with rat poison. Vaman Naik runs a cashew factory behind his residence. Shreemathi, it is reported, used to suffer from migraine and low blood pressure since the last seven to eight years. She was being treated for these problems at a local private hospital.

The cashew factory is infested with rats. Therefore, to control the menace of rodents, the family used to keep papaya pieces laced with rat poison at different places.

On October 19, as usual, papaya fruit pieces mixed with rat poison had been kept in the house. Shreemathi, by oversight, consumed the poisoned papaya pieces at around 1.30 pm on October 19. On October 20, she complained of extreme pain in the stomach. Shreemathi's daughter, Vidyashree (18), who came home at 8 pm that day, took her mother along with father to a private hospital and got her admitted there.

Without responding to treatment, Shreemathi breathed her last on the evening of Saturday. On the basis of a report filed by Vidyashree, Hiriadka police have registered a case of unnatural death and undertaken probe.