A 39-year-old man from Pune, arrested for allegedly distributing capsules laced with zinc phosphide to participants in a Muharram procession in Byculla last week, had arrived in Mumbai around two weeks earlier and checked into a budget hotel in Dongri, according to Byculla police. Investigators said he subsequently ordered 30,000 empty capsules and 50 kg of zinc phosphide online, reported TOI.
“He wanted to kill 15,000 people with the pills,” said an officer. Police recovered 14,900 poison-filled capsules from the accused, Fayyaz Premji, which they believe were assembled inside his hotel room.
