PIO fights extradition for allegedly killing mother-in-law with arsenic

London: A UK-based Indian origin pharmacist killed his mother-in-law and tried to kill his wife and her family by paying a Swiggy delivery boy Rs 2,000 to deliver arsenic-laced chilli and salt to their Hyderabad apartment, a court heard on Monday.India is seeking to extradite Ajith Kumar Mupparapu, a British citizen, to face charges of murder of his mother-in-law Uma Maheshwari Muttavarapu, attempted murder of his ex-wife Dr Sirisha Muttavarapu, and conspiracy to murder her and her family by poisoning them with arsenic compounds at her parents' home in Hyderabad.He appeared in the dock at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London from prison, dressed in a grey sweatshirt to contest his extradition. He argued that some of the evidence is inadmissible, there is insufficient evidence proving the charges, and he will face delays to trial, an overcrowded prison and torture if extradited.Sirisha, who lives in the UK, watched the proceedings.James Lewis KC, counsel for the Indian govt, outlined how Mupparapu verbally and physically abused Sirisha, her seven-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, and even their puppy many times after they got married in June 2018 and moved to the UK. They separated in Aug 2022. He then proceeded to stalk and terrorise her, following which she initiated divorce proceedings.Mupparapu's sister Surekha Mupparapu, a chemistry teacher at the Atomic Energy Central School in Hyderabad, purchased sodium arsenite pretending it was for the chemistry lab. She then gave it to Mupparapu who came to India in March 2023 and paid a Swiggy delivery boy Rs 2,000 to deliver a parcel and leave it outside his father-in-law's flat in Hyderabad, Lewis told the court.When the family gathered at the flat in Hyderabad in early June 2023 for Sirisha's brother's marriage, they ate home-cooked meals and all came down with diarrhoea and vomiting. On July 5, 2023, Uma Maheshwari died in hospital. The other family members were tested and found to have large amounts of arsenic in their system. Spices in the apartment tested positive for arsenic, Lewis said.Muparrapu had a dispute with his father-in-law Hanumantha Rao Muttavarapu over agricultural land and felt he had been ripped off. In Jan 2023, he hired Mohammed Azeem Khan and Rizwan Khan to kill Rao by staging a road traffic accident. In Feb 2023, Mupparapu arranged Rs 2 lakh to be paid to Karthik Vemulapally and Mohit Prahaladka who advertised themselves as contract killers on the dark web, to kill Rao. He got one of his employees, a software engineer, to make the payments, not explaining what they were for.Muparrapu also conspired with six others, including the son of the watchman at Rao's flat and Sirisha's cousin, Purnendar, to murder Rao in 2023 by administering succinylcholine injections to him. These cause death by respiratory failure in a sufficiently large dose. All these plots were unsuccessful.