Teacher's mock 'suicide test' for insurance booty kills three

AHMEDABAD: A schoolteacher in Gujarat's Nadiad contemplating suicide poisoned three innocent men with sodium nitrite in a twisted rehearsal for his own "perfect" death to wangle a Rs 25 lakh life insurance payout for his family - money they wouldn't get if his death was ruled a suicide.

One of those poisoned by Harikishan Makwana, 44, was a hearing-and speech-impaired man. Makwana's plan unravelled three weeks after the deaths, when police tracked the poison back to him. He was battling legal troubles after being named in an extortion case - a charge he insisted was false. Adding to his emotional burden was the death of his father, which Makwana believed was triggered by stress of his legal issues.

Desperate to secure the future of his wife and their kids, Makwana began plotting to ensure his death looked like accidental poisoning or murder. That's when he found inspiration in media reports of a tantrik who was arrested after he poisoned 12 people for financial gains. Makwana ordered sodium nitrite online and devised a plan to test the poison on others before using it on himself, said police.


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