TIRUVANNAMALAI: After the postmortem report of the sixth victim of a family in Thandarai Colony revealed that it was a case of poisoning, the district administration on Wednesday ordered the police to probe the deaths of all the six members of the family.
District collector Prashant M Wadnere said yellow phosphorous was found in liver, kidney and blood samples of Christha, 65, wife of Susainathan and resident of Thandarai Colony, in the final report of toxicology and histopathology.
The test was carried out at the regional forensic laboratory in Vellore.
She died on October 31 at a private hospital in Athianthal. Five others from the same family - Christopher, 13, Vinod Kumar, 23, Nelson,9, Krithika Merlin, 7, and Joesph, 85, died between October 7 and 25.
They all complained of severe stomach ache and vomited uncontrollably before their deaths. "The final postmortem report revealed Christha died due to poisoning. Yellow phosphorus was found in the sample of the deceased,".
When asked if the bodies of the deceased would be exhumed, the collector said that they were keeping their options open.
Vincent Prabakar, another member of the same family who had fallen ill, was stable. He was admitted to the government hospital in Tiruvannamalai on Friday and shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai.
Dean of the Government Tiruvannamalai Medical College Dr R Jayanthi said that there was no antidote for poisoning by yellow phosphorous. "The liver and kidney of the person poisoned by yellow phosphorus will be affected and it will result in jaundice. We can only give supportive medicine," she said. She said the poisoned person would develop complication after 24 to 48 hours.
Police, meanwhile, have ruled out possiblity of accidental poisoning or suicide and suspect the involvement of someone within the family.
