The victims had consumed bhakri and rice made from varai.
Around 146 people in the Kothrud area were taken ill due to food poisoning in the wee hours of Thursday after consuming varai (cereal) flour on Wednesday night. While 109 patients were discharged by 3 pm on Thursday, the others are undergoing treatment in the hospitals.
The condition of Swapnil Kanse, 22, admitted to the intensive care unit of the Sahyadri Hospital in Kothrud, is stated to be stable.
According to the police, the victims who had consumed bhakri (local bread) and rice made from varai began complaining of food poisoning symptoms like vomiting and loose motions in the wee hours of Thursday and got admitted to at least eight hospitals in the Kothrud area.
Majority of the victims are residents of Kishkindanagar, Sutardhara and Jai Bhawaninagar areas and had purchased varai from one, Manik super market in the Jaibhavaninagar area.
According to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), a team of health officers and food and drug administration (FDA) team immediately visited the shop on Thursday and took samples for a laboratory test. The results would be available in three days.
The original supplier of the varai has been traced to Satpur (near Nashik) based Anand Bhagar Mill which produces Royal Gold brand bhagar (varai).
According to the PMC health department, the samples of the varai flour have been procured from some wholesalers in the Gultekdi marketyard area which include Messrs Ajit Gugle, Kanani and Roopali Sales Corporation, while other wholesalers like Messrs Jayraj and Company, Siddharth Sales and Messrs Riddhi-Siddhi have been asked not to sell flour until further notice.
Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal who visited the hospitals told reporters, "The medical expenses of all the patients would be borne by the PMC and stringent action must be taken against the suppliers."
Patient Rueebai Malpote (65), a resident of Kishkindanagar told DNA, "After eating the bakhri, I started vomiting and getting feverish so my relatives immediately rushed me to hospital."
PMC chief health officer Dr RR Pardeshi told reporters that in Kishkindanagar area alone, 124 persons were affected due to food poisoning.
Out of them, 80 were admitted to Sutar hospital of the Pune Municipal Corporation and 64 of them were later released.
By Thursday evening, 16 were undergoing treatment in Sutar hospital.
He said that those affected by food poisoning were also admitted in other hospitals like Suyash, 6, Krishna, 4, Shashwat, 6, Khenat, 2, Vinayak, 5, Sahyadri, 16 and Akshay, 5.
Sahyadri Hospital's chief operation officer Dr Rajkumar Ambad told DNA that Swapnil Kanse was stable.
Meanwhile, Food and drugs department (Nashik) assistant commissioner Shashikant Kekare said that the FDA had raided the Satpur-based Anand Bhagar Mill from where a stock of Rs2 lakh was seized and samples sent to the FDA laboratory in Mumbai.
(with inputs from Dinesh Thite, Chaitraly Deshmukh and Vaishali Balajiwale)
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