Roza Ramteke, the second accused in the killing of five relatives at Mahagaon in Gadchiroli’s Aheri Taluka, wanted to murder at least 16 of her extended family over a 4-acre piece of land. While the first accused, Sanghamitra Kumbhare possibly just wished to end the life of her in-laws to end the miseries they imposed on her.
Sanghamitra and Ramteke were arrested on October 18 and are currently in police custody remand. According to a Times of India report, Sanghamitra has been placed under medical supervision after she complained of ill health during interrogation. Meanwhile, the report suggested that Roza’s husband Pramod is also under police’s radar, in the presumption that he already knew the duo’s murder plan and could have even assisted in executing it.
But Pramod — whom the cops wanted to interrogate — claimed that he has had hair loss due to poisoning, ruling out any action against him by the police officials.
Investigations by the Gadchiroli police reveal that Ramteke had grown hostile towards her husband’s four sisters, their spouses and children over a 4-acre land. Pramod’s sisters and their families had been demanding equal distribution of the said land.
Fuelling her animosity, she decided to partner up with Sanghamitra — an agricultural scientist — to murder their relatives by slow poisoning using thallium.
While Sanghamitra’s plan to kill her husband Roshan, father-in-law Shankar, mother-in-law Vijaya, her sister Varsha Urade and Roshan’s sister Komal Dahegaonkar succeeded, three other persons — with symptoms of poisoning — are recovering in the hospital.
According to Sanghamitra’s search history, she had been researching about poisons and of the options she came across, she picked thallium. Reportedly, they chose thallium as it is odourless, colourless and is also highly toxic.
Ramteke’s husband and her four sister-in-laws, Vijaya Kumbhare, Varsha Urade and two others had inherited the land from their father, however her desire for them to give up their share, led both Vijaya and Varsha to be piqued.
Sanghamitra’s interrogation revealed that even though her husband Roshan physically abused her, which lead her to attempt suicide in August, she still was emotionally attached to him. Police said that Sanghamitra was double-minded about poisoning Roshan — her husband — but Ramteke coerced her to do so.
HOW DID SANGHAMITRA & RAMTEKE JOIN HANDS?
According to police, Sanghamitra’s marriage did not turn out to be the expected way and she allegedly faced domestic violence at the hands of her husband. Other family members ill-treated her as well, police was quoted as saying.
Sanghamitra wanted to go home during Raksha Bandhan festival to celebrate with her family but Roshan and his parents allegedly did not allow her. As she kept insisting, a fight broke out in the family when Roshan allegedly assaulted her, the report stated.
“While Sanghamitra sat crying outside the house, her aunt-in-law Rosa Ramteke saw her and consoled her. Sanghamitra confided in her and told that she feels like killing them,” an officer was quoted.
Keeping her own fury against her husband’s sisters, Ramteke assured Sanghamitra that she would help her kill the family members, the officer was further quoted. Since then the two started searching for methods to kill on Google.
THEIR MURDER PLAN & EXECUTION
Upon learning that Thallium is a slow-killer and that they could even add it to the family members’ food without leaving any trace, the two decided to acquire the poison.
They procured Thallium, in mid-September, from Telangana after and started mixing it in food.
In her confession to police, Sanghamitra said that she mixed Thallium in a non-veg food item of Shankar, Vijaya and Komal, while for Roshan, she mixed it in dal (lentil).
Ramteke took the responsibility of administering Thallium to Varsha Urade, who is Vijaya’s sister, the report stated.
On September 20, Shankar and Vijaya complained of tingling in the limbs, severe lower back ache and head ache, as they got blackened lips and a heavy tongue. Following this the both were admitted to a hospital in Chandrapur, and later referred to a private facility in Nagpur. However, before their illness could be diagnose, Shankar died on September 26 and the next day, Vijaya died as well.
“While their children were recovering from the loss, health of Komal, Urade and Roshan also deteriorated. They were also admitted to hospital and died on October 8, 14 and 15 respectively,” an investigator was quoted.
Source: News18