The Raigad Police in Maharashtra has taken into custody an individual who utilized poison to fatally harm his two sisters as a consequence of a property dispute. The tragic demise of the two sisters occurred within a span of four days after they consumed soup prepared by their brother, who has been identified as Ganesh Mohite.
The chain of events commenced on October 16 when Sonali Shankar Mohite (aged 34) passed away at an Alibaug hospital while receiving medical treatment for symptoms of food poisoning. It's noteworthy to mention that her brother, Ganesh Mohite, claimed her body for final rites.
Merely a day subsequent to the death of Sonali, Ganesh admitted his second sister, Sneha Shankar Mohite (aged 30), to the same hospital. She had reported experiencing nausea and severe abdominal pain. Unfortunately, her condition worsened, and she was subsequently referred to MGM Hospital in Panvel, where she succumbed to the poisoning on October 20.
Before her untimely demise, Sneha provided a statement to the police, explaining that her brother Ganesh had prepared soup and served it to her and their elder sister Sonali on October 15. Their mother, meanwhile, supplied them with water in a copper glass.
The mother conveyed to the police that she had left the copper water container outdoors at her residence, harbouring suspicions that individuals from the nearby family might have poisoned the water source due to an ongoing property dispute.
In response to these revelations, the police registered a case of murder and launched an inquiry into the matter.
During the investigation, it came to light that the father of the deceased sisters had served as a forest officer within the state Forest Department, with his demise occurring in 2009. Following her husband's passing, Ganesh's mother petitioned the forest department, seeking employment for her daughters on compassionate grounds in place of their father.
This plea led to friction between Ganesh and his two sisters. According to the authorities, Ganesh was engaged in illicitly withdrawing funds from banks using forged signatures of his mother and sisters. He had also manipulated them, transferring their house from their father's name to his possession.
Official documents were discovered by the police outlining complaints submitted by the sisters and their mother against Ganesh to the police and forest department.
Ganesh had enticed his sisters and mother with assurances of compensation and a fair division of property, subject to them providing him with a No Objection Certificate (NOC) permitting him to occupy his father's role in the Forest Department. Subsequently, he entered the department's service in 2021.
For the duration of the preceding year, Ganesh resided alongside his sisters and mother; however, constant demands from his sisters to equitably partition the property led him to the gruesome decision to eliminate them.
A significant discovery by the police uncovered that Ganesh Mohite had been actively seeking information online regarding odourless, tasteless, and colourless poisons from October 11. Furthermore, he conducted web searches about the time it takes for poison to manifest its effects and the appropriate dosage. This online quest revealed that police had identified the wrapper from a bottle of rat poison in the boot of Ganesh's car.
In light of the evidence, Ganesh Mohite has been apprehended, and his custody has been extended until October 25, as decreed by the police authorities.
