Money feud: Friends drink poison in succession, one dies

The incident happened on Wednesday evening, when Siddique Syed, a moneylender from Triplicane came to his friend Manoj’s office at Sowcarpet with a bottle of poison. Police said that Manoj, who owns a finance company, had been borrowing money from Siddiq and lending it to realtors. Siddique came to meet him, as Manoj had not paid back the principal amount or the interest after collecting a huge sum about a year ago.

But when Manoj gave some excuses for not returning the money, Siddique took out a bottle and said he would consume the pesticide to kill himself then and there. Manoj initially thought it was a drama. But much to his shock, Siddiq consumed the poison in front of him. As soon as he swooned, Manoj consumed the remaining pesticide from the bottle.

Some of the employees who witnessed the whole episode rushed both of them to Government Royapettah hospital. On Thursday morning, Manoj died without responding to treatment. Meanwhile, Siddique was shifted to a private hospital where his condition is said to be stable. One of the employees later alerted the Elephant Gate police. Police have registered a case and are probing the case.