NEW DELHI:
Divya Sharma
, wife of Varun Arora, the man who allegedly poisoned her and other members of her family in January, died on Thursday after being in a coma since March 6. Her sister and mother had died of thallium poisoning last month, while her father is still under medical treatment.
Arora had poisoned his wife’s family by mixing thallium in a fish dish he cooked in west Delhi’s Inderpuri on January 31. Police said they had identified the person who sold the thallium to Arora and are verifying some facts before making arrests.
Arora, a Greater Kailash-I resident, was arrested on March 24, two days after the death of his mother-in-law, Anita Sharma, hospitalised on March 4. Her younger daughter, Priyanka, had succumbed to the poisoning on February 15. The elder daughter, Divya, Arora’s wife, was hospitalised on March 6 in a comatose state. Father-in-law, Devender Sharma, is under treatment.
A police officer said that they were informed on Thursday that Divya too had succumbed to the poisoning. “Three people have died so far. Arora has been arrested. The condition of Devender Sharma is okay and he is recuperating. We have traced the company from which Arora bought thallium and we are checking if the chemical was procured through illegal means,” the officer said.
Arora had not served the deadly dish to his four-year-old twin sons, giving them milk instead. Divya’s relatives have requested custody of the two boys.
“We are yet to be given care of the children,” said a relative. “Divya was in coma since the first day of her hospitalisation and Arora is under medical custody. We want the strictest of legal action taken against him.”
Arora told police that he had attempted to kill all members of his in-laws’ family, including his wife, because she had undergone abortion last year on her parents’ advice after developing some medical complications. Police said Arora believed the aborted foetus was the incarnation of his father, who had died in 2019.