Woman seeking toothache relief given sulphas tablet at Madhya Pradesh pharmacy, dies

NEW DELHI: A 32-year-old woman has died in Madhya Pradesh’s Jhabua district after mistakenly being given a pesticide tablet for a toothache at a local medical store.

The woman, identified as Rekha from Dharampuri village, had visited the store near Thandla Gate on Thursday evening seeking relief from tooth pain.

According to police, a salesperson at the store handed her a sulphas tablet—commonly used as a pesticide—mistaking it for a painkiller.

She consumed the tablet at home, but her condition deteriorated rapidly. She was taken to hospital, where she died later that night.

Police say a preliminary post-mortem report confirmed sulphas poisoning as the cause of death.

The incident was reported to authorities on Friday and a case has been registered under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The store owner, Lokendra Babel, 52, has been arrested.

The shop has been sealed and the Drug Control Department has joined the investigation to determine why sulphas was being stored there.

“We are also searching for the salesperson who gave the tablet,” said Jhabua Superintendent of Police Padma Vilochan Shukla.

The incident occurred roughly three kilometres from the Jhabua district headquarters.