July 26, 2023. She has been married for only two months when Bala Sashirekha, in her early 30s, is wheeled into a hospital in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.Sashirekha has been unwell for a while now. She has severe diarrhoea and vomiting, and oedema has left her limbs swollen and dysfunctional. Her parents have taken her to several doctors over the past week but no one could put a finger on what had taken hold of Sasirekha. She is referred to a neurologist.As he holds Sasirekha’s almost lifeless hand, something odd strikes Dr Vemuri Rama Tarakanath. Her finger nails have white lines across them. Mees’ lines, they are called — a tell-tale sign of arsenic poisoning. Dr Tarakanath is alarmed and runs a few tests on Sashirekha.The reports, when they come out, confirm Dr Tarakanath’s fears: Sashirekha has arsenic in her body, about 10 times the normal limit.Telangana Police now have a twisted criminal case at hand.The one who could not get awaySashirekha survives. Her 62-year-old mother-in-law, however, was not as lucky. M Uma Maheshwari died on July 5, 2023 – a little over a month after her son’s marriage was fixed with Sashirekha at a small get-together at their Hyderabad home.Her family believed Uma died of natural causes and cremated her, preserving her ashes to honour her memory. But once Sashirekha is diagnosed with arsenic poisoning, it alarms M Sirisha. Sirisha is sister of Sashirekha’s husband and Uma’s daughter. She lives in the UK.Story continues below this adOn August 18, around three weeks after Sashirekha’s results came out, Sirisha approaches Cyberabad’s Miyapur police station. In the FIR, she accuses her ex-husband of having poisoned her mother.What unfolds in a month from then is a detailed plan allegedly hatched by Ajith Kumar Mupparappu, a pharmacist based in the UK, to kill his estranged wife – Sirisha, her family, and anyone who came close to them.An ‘uneasy’ celebrationJune 3, 2023. A plush and spacious apartment in Sainatha Enclave in Hyderabad’s Miyapur is buzzing with activity. It is the day the marriage of Sirisha’s brother M Purnender is getting fixed with Sashirekha from Guntur. There is a small celebration at home, with only close family members in attendance. Sirisha has also come down from the UK for the ceremony.It is supposed to be a joyous occasion but the to-be bride and groom are battling a sense of uneasiness. This is more than just “butterflies in the stomach”; other members of the family, too, have taken ill, vomiting throughout the day, ORS drinks their constant companion. For now, they brush it aside as a mere bout of ill-health and get on with their day. “None of us thought of foul play,” Sirisha tells The Indian Express, speaking on the phone from an undisclosed location in London.A fraught second inningsStory continues below this adThe story begins in 2018. Both divorcees from their first marriages, Ajith and Sirisha get a second chance at love as they connect on a matrimonial portal. Sirisha has a 7-year-old daughter; Ajith also has a young son. With the approval of both families, they tie the knot at an Arya Samaj temple in Hyderabad.But things soon turn south.“There were signs from the beginning,” Sirisha recalls. According to Hyderabad police’s chargesheet in the case, Ajith started verbally abusing Sirisha right after they got married. After two months in Hyderabad, they move to the UK where Ajith works as a consultant. “He had a degree in pharmacy but he was doing a lot of other work,” Sirisha says. Sirisha also takes up a job as a general practitioner trainee.In London, Ajith’s verbal abuses had taken the shape of physical violence, she says. “He used to get angry at little things. After abusing me, he would apologise and promise to do better. He could never keep those promises,” recalls Sirisha.Sometime in 2022, Ajith, she says, threatened her at knife point. A second time, he brandishes a wine bottle, threatening to smash her with it. Ajith even hurts Sirisha’s daughter, manhandling her amidst a heated argument with Sirisha, the chargesheet details. “That was the last straw. We, my daughter and I, snuck out of the house and went to a friend’s place,” Sirisha says.Story continues below this adSoon Ajith began stalking Sirisha. “He once overtook my car on the road and started abusing me saying, he will see the end of me,” she says. When Ajith intrudes into her flat in August 2022, Sirisha gets a restraining order against him from the UK police.“I filed for divorce in October 2022. Within two months, he hatched the plan to kill my entire family,” Sirisha says.Ajith now zeroes in on Hanumantha Rao, Sirisha’s father.Murder he wroteTrained in Pharmacy, Ajith knew what could accomplish the job for him. A naturally occurring element, arsenic has wide usage: From the semiconductor industry to medicines to glass and ceramics. It is also highly poisonous – a reason it is not available off the counter. Ajith thinks of his sister. Being a science teacher, she can source it under the school experiment quota.Now the question: How to administer it?Story continues below this adTheir two children settled in the UK and the US, Rao and his wife Uma lived by themselves in Miyapur – a fast-growing township in Hyderabad. Ajith, who flew down from the UK to accomplish the plan, allegedly mixes arsenic in salt and chilli powder and gets them delivered in a neat package to their home. Rao, according to the chargesheet, receives the packet without any suspicion.Ajith, though, has to wait for a while before his plan kicks into effect: Uma is away and barely any cooking is taking place at the Raos’.Rao once did rustle up an omelette, the only thing he knows how to cook, and falls sick. Regular food poisoning, he tells himself and waits for Uma to come back.May 20, 2023. Uma returns. This is when things started to turn.Story continues below this ad“My parents developed mild symptoms like nausea and diarrhoea,” says Sirisha. The period between May 2023 and June 2023 sees other members of the family calling on the elderly couple frequently, in preparation of Purnender’s marriage. “When the health of everyone at home deteriorated, I sent water samples for testing, twice. But never did I suspect that it was the food that was the culprit,” Sirisha says.Sashirekha and Purnender get married in a small ceremony on June 3, 2023. Days later, Sirisha’s mother becomes severely ill and dies at a private hospital in Hyderabad. “Cardiac arrhythmia, resulting in severe pulmonary oedema and acute respiratory failure” are recorded as the cause.“Even after my mother’s demise, we kept eating the same poisoned food because we were using the same spices that were tampered with. And most of us developed symptoms of arsenic poisoning without even knowing what it was,” Sirisha says.July 20, 2023. Sashirekha has fallen severely ill but she still undertakes the journey to her parents’ home in Guntur. “It was Ashadamasam, when newly wedded brides are expected to visit their maiden home. A few days later, her parents consulted Dr Tarakanath,” Sirisha says.Story continues below this adDr Tarakanath has never seen a patient with Mees’ lines in person before. But a look at Sashirekha’s fingernails takes him back to medical school, when he had studied about it years ago. “Once I noticed the lines and related symptoms, I ordered an arsenic test on the patient. All other family members also underwent the test,” Dr Tarakanath says. “Each of them tested positive for arsenic.”The Telangana police now had two key questions at hand: How did arsenic reach the family? And how did Ajith, who lived thousands of kilometres away in the UK, play a part, let alone a leading role, in it?A series of failed attemptsWhen the police started investigating the case, they found multiple call records between Ajith and three of his friends. While following the trio, who had taken a hotel room on rent in Hyderabad, the police learnt that Ajith had asked them to inject Sirisha’s family members with succinylcholine. If administered, it would have resulted in their immediate death. According to the chargesheet, the police arrested four persons, three of whom were residents of Hyderabad, with vials of the poison, which is difficult to detect during postmortem.But this plan was never executed.According to the chargesheet, Ajith made attempts to kill Sirisha’s father multiple times. “Early in 2023, he attempted to stage a road accident to kill Rao. He even paid two contract killers a sum of Rs 4 lakh for the job. His next attempt was arsenic poisoning and the final one was succinylcholine poisoning,” the chargesheet reads.Story continues below this adWhen the road accident plot did not go to plan, Ajith took matters in his own hands.Between August 2023 and February 2024, police arrest nine persons, including Ajith’s sister Mupparapu Surekha. Police discover unusually frequent phone calls between Ajith and his sister in the months leading up to Uma’s death. Soon, they arrive at Surekha’s doorsteps. On questioning, Surekha revealed how Ajith got a food delivery app partner to deliver the poison-laced spices at his former in-laws’ place for a sum of Rs 2,000, police say.Nine of the accused are now behind bars under sections of murder and conspiracy.Still in the UK, Ajith remains absconding for months. Sirisha narrates how difficult it was for her to continue living in London, knowing her ex-husband is not very far away. “Ajith is a UK citizen, and blue and red corner notices have been issued to extradite him. The hearing of the extradition plea is expected to be held in the last week of April in a UK court,” the chargesheet reads.Ajith is finally arrested by the UK police in Maidenhead, Berkshire, on January 17, 2025. He is remanded by the Westminster magistrate court in London. He petitions against his extradition, stating his “human rights will be compromised once arrested by Cyberabad police”. Further hearing on this petition will take place by April-end.Meanwhile, Sirisha says she is trying to rebuild her life and feels a sense of security now that Ajith is in prison. “My daughter no longer gets nightmares.” But physical effects of the plot remain, reminding her family members of the horrors they went through three years ago. “Everyone in the family is burdened with neurological symptoms (tingling and weakness) of the poisoning even now,” she tells The Indian Express.The last few years, though, have also ushered in moments of joy for the Rao family. Sashirekha, the young bride whose medical tests revealed the poisoning case, is now pregnant with her second child. “We are glad she survived. We are happy to welcome two children into the family after being virtually sentenced to death…” says Sirisha.