Two minor sisters were killed and their younger brother was hospitalised in a critical condition after their 34-year old mother, wife of a migrant worker, allegedly poisoned them and later tried to kill herself similarly in a village of Birbhum, 30km from Santiniketan, late on Friday.
Kalinagar village residents Serina Biwi, her two daughters Samina Sultana, 15, and Saheba Sultana, 11, and son Irfan Sheikh, 8, were rushed to Bolpur sub-divisional hospital by police and a few relatives on Friday night, when their health drastically worsened, local sources said.
Samina and Saheba were declared dead on arrival at the hospital. The mother and son, both critical, were sent to Burdwan Medical College and Hospital.
Relatives and neighbours of the family told this correspondent that they suspect that Serina poisoned her children and later herself because of severe financial distress since the last seven months after her husband Hossain Sheikh, a migrant worker in the UAE, stopped sending money home.
“Serina’s husband left for Dubai to work as a construction worker five years ago. He never came back to the village but used to send Rs 20,000 to Rs 24,000 home every month. It stopped seven months ago,” said a neighbour in front of Serina’s one-storey tin-roofed house.
Samina and Saheba were students of Classes IX and V in Debagram High School of Nanoor, Irfan studied in Class III in a private English-medium school in Futisanko.
“Serina had a dream of educating her son in an English medium school,” said Sentu Sheikh, a cousin. He added that Serina never confided in anyone about her money problems.
“It is not clear why Hossain stopped sending money,” another relative said and added that the couple had been married for 16 years.
Birbhum police after their preliminary probe have said Serina was in acute financial distress.
“The woman poisoned her children and tried to kill herself with the same poison. Her two daughters have died. Primary investigation revealed that the woman was in a financial crisis as her husband stopped sending them money from the UAE. Probe is on to find out if there are other reasons” said Nagendra Nath Tripathi, the Birbhum police chief.