Shillong —
They say one man’s meat is another man’s poison. But for the local villagers at Umphum, the wild fruit soh khuaitur, which killed 14 migrant workers yesterday, even this enticingly luscious fruit is best avoided.
These 14 lives would not have been lost had they been local residents and known about the fruit’s poisonous nature. #The bodies of the labourers, hailing from Assam’s Dhubri district, were recovered from their makeshift tent at Umphum village under Saipung police station in East Jaintia hills yesterday morning.
The village is around 50km from Khliehriat, the district headquarters of East Jaintia hills, and around 150km from here.
The labourers were engaged in a road-construction project from Saipung to Mulhoi, which is around 15km from Saipung, reported The telegraph.
On Sunday, the labourers had allegedly plucked the wild fruit, and made it into chutney for dinner. However, what the labourers thought was edible, took their lives.
They have been identified as Jahirul Haque, 22, Md Inamul Haque, 29, Md Mafigul Haque, 21, Amal Mani Das, 23, Md Mansur Ali, 36, Md Karim Uddin Ahmed, 18, Majimur Ali, 18, Md Sopikul Ali, 19, Md Hachan Ali, 19, Md Moni Hussain, 44, Md Mazid Ali, 22, Md Shohidur Hussain, 21, Md Jahirul Haque, 23, and Md Minal Haque, 19.
All the victims were from Uttar Raipur, Dakhin Raipur, Bhatipetla, Pratapganj, Chapor-Balajan, Bousmara and Balajan villages of Dhubri district, a police source in Dhubri said.
The wild fruit, known as soh khuaitur in the local language, could entice the uninitiated. However, its unknown content could be fatal.
“We suspect that they died after they ate chutney made of wild fruits on Sunday evening. Although there is no evidence of any foul play, we will wait for the post-mortem report,” a Meghalaya police official said.
The bodies of the labourers were taken to the Khliehriat civil hospital where the post-mortem was conducted this morning.
A senior doctor from Khliehriat said blood samples and stomach content from all the 14 persons were taken, which will be sent for examination to a forensic science laboratory.
The doctor also said while the labourers did not have any injury marks, there were blisters on their bodies.
“It is presumed that the labourers died because of food poisoning after they had allegedly consumed the wild fruit. However, the exact cause of their death will be known after the forensic examination,” the doctor said.
The doctor said it was for the first time that he came across the wild fruit whose content is yet to be known.
When the bodies were found, police had also come across traces of the wild fruit in the chutney, which were supposedly consumed by the labourers.
Pictures taken at the makeshift tent showed the labourers were sleeping in a large temporary bed, and could have died in their sleep.
The bodies are being brought to Dhubri by a police team sent from Golokganj police station by Dhubri superintendent of police Mridulananda Sarma.
A police team led by second officer-in-charge of Golokganj police station, Pritam Das, had left for Khliehriat, to bring back the bodies.
Das said officials of the East Jaintia Hills handed over the bodies to them this afternoon. “We are likely to reach Golokganj by morning.”
A member of the police team said the magistrate who was present and the doctor who had performed the autopsy said the death was caused by poisoning.
Another source said they collected the viscera and got the videography of the bodies done.
Dhubri additional superintendent of police Debasish Bora said the deaths were a result of poisoning, as informed by the East Jaintia Hills district administration.