Cong, NCP workers hospitalised in Mumbai

At least 193 people, including children and Congress-NCP workers, were admitted to hospitals following suspected food poisoning in Maharashtra.

At least 193 persons, including children and Congress-NCP workers, were admitted to Mumbai hospitals on Wednesday for suspected food poisoning after they consumed sweets, allegedly distributed by unidentified persons.

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"At least, seven persons were critical, while some were still unconscious. Many reported feeling drowsy even after vomiting," Dean of JJ Hospital, PH Shingare said in Mumbai.

"The doctors suspect that those admitted were suffering from `sedative poisoning'," he said.

Over 130 persons were undergoing treatment at JJ Hospital, while over 45 adults and 18 children were admitted to Nair Hospital. Patients were still streaming in from the affected areas and the figure of affected persons was expected to go up, hospital sources said.

The sweet boxes were distributed by unidentified persons on motorbikes to the Congress and NCP workers stationed outside the polling booths, who consumed them along with family members, in minority dominated areas of Nagpada and Byculla, police sources said.

Meanwhile, the sweets and the fluid vomited by the patients were sent to the forensic laboratory for examination.