A 70-year-old woman and an eight-year-old boy died and 22 others fell ill in Etah district of Uttar Pradesh on Friday in what authorities suspect to be a case of food poisoning. The victims, all from Bethra village of Aliganj area, had eaten sweets at a roadside public feast. “They had gone to take a dip in the Ganga and were returning on a tractor-trolley. On their way, they had food and laddus from a bhandara. We suspect there was something wrong with the laddoos, as they complained of severe stomach ache soon after consuming them. They were rushed to the district hospital in Farrukhabad district,” said Etah chief medical officer (CMO), Dr Ajay Agarwal. “A seriously ill woman, Surja Devi (70), was referred to Kanpur, but she died on the way. An eight-year-old boy, Kanhaiya, too was declared dead on Saturday,” he said. Etah district magistrate, Amit Kishore, said, samples of the sweets distributed at the feast have been send for lab test. No FIR has been registered in the matter so far, he added.
