Pick cyanide off the shelf

HYDERABAD: Want to buy some cyanide? No problem. Just walk into any of the many shops selling chemicals, ask for cyanide by its name and carry home with you as much as you want.
The ease with which The Times of India procured cyanide in the city only confirms the simple operation in Guntur by Vinjamuri Srinivasa Rao, who, according to the police, slipped cyanide tablets, that look deceptively like napthalene balls, into liquor leading to the death of eight persons.
With cyanide available for the asking, it comes as no surprise that this lethal chemical was chosen as the vehicle to spike liquor and kill people in Guntur.
Anyone who wants to buy cyanide, can do so off the shelf from any number of shops in the city and the state. For a pittance. A cyanide tablet of the size of a napthalene ball can be purchased for as little as Rs 2 or Rs 2.50.
The retailer selling cyanide does not even bother to ask for your identity and the purpose for which cyanide is being purchased, let alone take down details such as the address of the buyer as what is being sold is a deadly chemical.
On Wednesday, this was the scene at a chemical shop in Old City. The ''buyer'' walked into the shop and asked: "I want cyanide." The only question that was asked was "small or big?". The reply given was "both." The shopkeeper then took Rs 50 and handed over two large pieces of cyanide packed in a piece of paper. In another scrap of paper, he packed a handful of napthalene ball sized cyanide tablets and handed them over after placing the two paper packets in a polythene cover.
No questions were asked who the buyer was, what the purpose was and no bill was given.
While the relatively large cyanide crystals are sold at Rs 180 a kg, the smaller ones are sold at Rs 140 a kg. About 35 shops sell cyanide at this rate in the city, a shopkeeper said. However, the outlets that sell chemicals for educational institutions in the Abids area denied that they sell cyanide.