Dad’s ‘toad curry’ leaves one girl dead, another critical

Upset that a toad entered his house, a tribal man cooked it for dinner and asked his family to consume it with disastrous consequences as he lost one child and another battling for life in hospital.

Police said that a six-year-old tribal girl, Sumitra Munda died late on Friday at the Keonjhar district headquarters hospital, while her four-year old sister, Muni is critical and battling complications after eating toad curry in Joda block area of Keonjhar district on Thursday.

Man escapes toad curry's toxic effect

The children's condition turned critical while their father Muna Munda (40) who also ate the curry, faced no complication. Police rushed to Guruda, a remote village under Bamebari police station, about 70 km from Keonjhar, after learning about the incident. Witnesses and police said on Thursday evening, a toad entered the Munda family's house, angering Sumitra's father, who killed it and the family cooked it for dinner. Later in the night, the children started vomiting and felt unconscious. On Friday morning, they were taken to Keonjhar district headquarters hospital for treatment where Sumitra died on Friday night. Police started a probe after registering an unnatural death case in Bamebari police station.

"After the post-mortem examination, the body was handed over to her family," said Swarup Ranjan Nayak, officer in-charge of Bamebari police station. Sanjeeb Mishra, an assistant professor of community medicine at VSS Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Burla, said parotid gland of toads have toxins to save themselves from predators. The poison can affect if one eats them. Similarly, skins of certain categories of toads also have toxins, he said.