2 weeks Ago
Surat: Surat police have cracked the case of the aluminium phosphide (Celphos) poisoning incident at the Anabh Gems unit in Kapodra. After scutinizing CCTV footage and tracing the Celphos packet that was used, police nabbed Nikunj Devmurari (29), who had been working as a manager at the unit for the last four years. Devmurari claims he had a debt of Rs 9 lakh, and he had bought the packet of Celphos, (a rodenticide) to commit suicide but later threw it into the water cooler.
Police have booked him for attempted murder. DCP (Zone I) Alok Kumar said, "The case was complicated as there was no footage showing who threw the Celphos into the cooler. We tried to solve it based on the camera nearest to the cooler.
" He said did an experiment to find out how long it for water to smell after Celphos is added to it. "We found that it immediately gives off a smell. Based on this, we examined CCTV footage from 10 minutes before the first shout about the smell.
The first shout about the smell came from Devmurari, who was seen in the camera near the cooler," he said. Another team was tracing the Celphos batch. The team found that Devmurari had bought this packet at a medical shop.
"Our suspicion was confirmed and he later confessed to the crime. He is claiming that he wanted to die by suicide, but we are investigating if he intended to kill the employees for some other reason," said Kumar. According to police sources, Devmurari had a debt of Rs 9 lakh as he lived extravagantly.
Kapodra inspector M B Ausura said: "Devmurari was also doing an online groceries business, in which he incurred debt. He used to live a lavish lifestyle, which led him to more debt. On March 31, he bought Celphos from Kirti Medical Store in Sarthana.
According to him, he wanted to commit suicide but later had second thoughts. He said he then threw the Celphos packet into the water cooler. As he realized the gravity of what he had done, he began shouted about the smell from the water.
We are investigating whether he intended to kill the employees." Devmurari had joined Anabh Gems in 2021 at a salary of Rs 16,000 a month, which rose to Rs 21,000. BOX HEAD: Got himself admitted On the day of the incident, Devmurari was the first to shout about the smell at about 12.
30pm and alerted the supervisor of the unit. As the supervisor found the Celphos packet in the cooler, all the employees who drank water that day were rushed to the hospital. To mislead the owner, who is his uncle, Devmurari also got hospitalized even though he did not drink the water.
"Not all the 118 persons who drank water from the cooler did so after the Celphos was added. Some five or six people may have drunk the water after it was poisoned," a police official said..
