THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE

SEPTEMBER 1997 ISSUE

THE POISON SLEUTHS

POISONING BY RATTI SEEDS

-Dr. Anil Aggrawal

"Good morning doctor. Oh, my God, what are you doing today? Oh well, today you are examining the dead body of a young man. Oh, my God, what happened to him? He has a nasty looking puncture mark on his neck"

"Good morning Tarun. The name of this farmer is Mahesh Lodi, and he is 25 years old. He has died in the most intriguing circumstances. About 6 days back, his neighbor Kiran visited him at about 10 in the morning, and demanded that he (Mahesh) should stop meeting his sister Geeta, with whom he was having a regular affair. Reportedly Mahesh refused to do this, as he was in deep love with her. Seeing that Mahesh was quite adamant, Kiran changed his stance and became suddenly soft. Apparently he wanted to leave his house, but before leaving, he asked Mahesh that he wanted to go to the bathroom to relieve himself. Mahesh who was quite relieved by Kiran's changed stance, happily showed him the way."

"And so the matter was resolved there and then"

"Not in the least Tarun. Actually Kiran and his family members had implored Mahesh on this count several times in the past too, because they wanted to marry her in a different family of their own caste, but Mahesh had refused point blank to stop meeting her. Reportedly even Geeta was adamant about this relationship, and that's why they wanted to pressurize Mahesh. This time, Kiran had come to settle this issue once and for all. After coming back from the bathroom, Kiran changed his stance once again, and began abusing Mahesh. Mahesh was completely taken aback by this renewed hostility. A physical tussle ensued between the two. During the tussle, there was naturally a liberal exchange of slaps and blows. During one such blow on the back of his neck, Mahesh felt as if something very sharp had stung him, but as he had a tough fight on his hands, he had to take care of Kiran first. Soon after he was able to push Kiran out of his house. After Kiran left the house, Mahesh tried to feel the area on the back of his neck where he had felt the sting, but as the area was behind his back, he could not examine it minutely and soon forgot about it. As he was feeling quite exhausted after the tussle, he went to the kitchen and drank a glass of water from the jug. Soon after, Mahesh started feeling unwell. The next day he had a nauseating feeling and vomited a few times. He contacted a doctor, who found that his pulse was rapid, and he was running a mild temperature. Thinking that he was probably running viral fever, he prescribed some fever lowering drugs (antipyretics) and pain killers (analgesics). But apparently there wasn't much relief. Day before yesterday, his condition worsened. He started feeling much weaker. He had diarrhoea too, and reportedly passed blood in his stools. He contacted his doctor again, who noted a peculiar puncture mark on the back of his neck, which was inflamed, which as you know means that it was looking angry red. Taking it to be a mosquito bite, he preferred to ignore it, although Mahesh was complaining of itching and local discomfort there. The doctor also noted that he had a weak but rapid pulse, cold perspiration and trembling of hands. He advised him to contact a City Hospital. But before he could arrange to go to the City Hospital, Mahesh collapsed and died. The doctor refused to give a death certificate, as he couldn't ascertain the cause of his death. So the police seized his body, and has brought it to me for post-mortem examination, so that I could tell them the cause of his death"

"Very interesting indeed! It appears that Mahesh started having his symptoms only after he had a physical tussle with Kiran. The symptoms indicate that he was probably poisoned, but Kiran did not give him anything to eat. It could be that he surreptitiously mixed some poison in his water or food, before he left his house."

"I can't deny this possibility, except for the fact that it is very unlikely. Kiran indeed went to the bathroom just before the fight, and it is indeed possible that instead of going to the bathroom, he went to the kitchen and mixed some poison in the water or food. But if he had done that, it was much safer for him to leave immediately after coming back from the "bathroom". Why would he unnecessarily pick up the fight?"

"That indeed makes sense? Then why did he go to the bathroom? Do you sincerely think that he wanted to relieve himself?"

"Doesn't seem very likely, especially considering the fact that immediately after coming from the bathroom, he changed his stance once again. I would rather say that he did go to the bathroom, but for a different purpose."

"And what was that?"

"To fix a poisonous needle between his fingers. These poisonous needles were probably lying in his pocket. When he went to the bathroom, he fixed one such needle between his fingers. That's why when he struck a blow on the back of Mahesh's neck, it was felt by him as a sting. In fact, with that blow, he had inserted the needle in the flesh of his neck"

"Sounds quite interesting to me. But what poison could it be?

"Tarun, I have dissected the area of the back of the neck, and I indeed have extricated this needle. Look, here it is."

"Oh indeed, but it is not a metallic needle. Looks rather like a thorn to me"

"Yes, indeed it is not a metallic needle. It is called sui or sutari in vernacular, and is made from a poisonous plant known as ratti in local language. Botanically this plant is known as Abrus precatorius."

"Oh, so it is a thorn from this plant?"

"No, it is not a thorn of this plant. It is made after quite a painstaking effort. But before I dwell on this subject further, let me tell you a little bit more about this plant, so you can follow me more intelligently."

"Please go ahead doctor. I am all ears"

"Let us begin with the name of the plant, which itself tells us a lot. The name of the genus is Abrus which means graceful. It actually refers to the plant's beautiful flowers. The term precatorius is derived from precor, which means "to pray" because the seeds are often used as ornamental beans in rosaries meant for prayers. Several ornamental souvenirs are also made from these seeds.

The plant is commonly known as Ratti or Gunchi in India. You might recall that ancient Indian weights and measures included tola, masha and ratti. This ratti referred to the weight of a single ratti seed. This seed was chosen as a standard weight in ancient Indian system, because its seed is fairly constant in weight; on an average, it weighs about 105 mg."

"That is most interesting indeed."

"There are more interesting facts related to this plant. The seed is known by several names, some of the more common ones are Rosary pea, because it is frequently used in rosaries - garlands meant for worship. For the same reason, it is also known as Buddhist's rosary bead or prayer bead. It has some other interesting names too. Some of these are Jequirity bean, Indian bean, Crab's eyes, Black-Eyed Susan and Indian Licorice. Licorice or liquorice is actually a European leguminous plant, known botanically as Glycyrrhiza glabra. The sweet tasting dried root of this plant, or an extract made from it, is used in medicine or as flavoring in confectioneries. Since the roots of abrus plant are also sweet tasting, the Europeans have named it Indian licorice. The plant is native to tropical Asia, especially India. It however grows in most warm, humid climates all over the world such as in the Caribbean islands and Florida. All parts of the plant are toxic, but the seeds contain the highest concentration of toxins."

"What does this plant look like doctor? Can we identify it easily?"

"Of course you can. It is a tender, twining plant which is woody at the base. The leaves are compound, featherlike, with 10 to 15 pairs of narrow leaflets 1/2 to 1 inch long. Flowers are pealike, 3/8 inch long, purple pink, yellowish or whitish. Seed pod is much like the pod of the ordinary edible pea; it is 1-2 inches long, borne in clusters, green when immature, becoming brown and dry, splitting open, and remaining on vine with seeds displayed. Seeds are quite attractive, and it is for this reason, that they are used for ornamental purposes. They are usually vivid scarlet with black spot at base. Some may be white with a black spot, others may be all white, or all black, yellow or even blue. In one pod there are about 4-6 seeds. The seed is oval or round, with a diameter of about quarter of an inch. It is pale and soft when immature, but hard, dry and glossy when ripe.

"What poison do the seeds contain doctor?"

"The seeds contain the deadly poison abrin, which is mainly responsible for the toxicity of this plant. It contains some other toxic substances too, but abrin is most dangerous. The sweet taste of the root is due to glycyrrhizin."

"Doctor, you told me about Kiran using a sui to kill Mahesh. And you also told me that this sui is made in a very complicated way. Can you tell me more about it? And why can't one just mix the seeds in some food? What is the necessity of this complicated step of making needles out of this plant?"

"Tarun, you have asked several interesting questions in one go. Let me explain them one by one. The seeds are about 100 times less poisonous when taken by mouth than when injected directly in the system. That is why killers prefer to make needles and inject them directly. The needles are made in quite an interesting way. The seeds are first decorticated i.e. their outer covering is removed. The decorticated seeds are powdered and then usually mixed with datura, opium, onion or powdered glass...."

"Sorry to interrupt you doctor, but you have used several terms. What are datura and opium?"

"They are also different poisons Tarun. We shall discuss them in some detail in our later meetings. For the time being you can remember that these are just some poisons which are used in this method. To be sure, their use is not an absolute necessity, as ratti seeds by themselves are quite poisonous, but apparently the killers want to leave no stone unturned!"

"Wow! The killers are methodical too."

"Certainly, why not. Well, the powder is then made into a paste with spirit and water, and long needles are fashioned out of this paste. The needles are about 1.5 cm in length - about the length of your thumbnail- and weigh about 100 mg on an average. These needles are then dried in the sun. When dry, they are known as suis or sutaris and are ready for use. As you know the name sui refers to a needle in Hindi. I have already told you how the killer uses these needles for killing. He may hold one or two such suis in his palm between his closely held fingers (the way one holds a cigarette; only much more tightly). The victim is then slapped in such a way that the suis penetrate the flesh. The effect is similar to giving an injection of abrin to the victim, and is thus obviously quite effective. You might be surprised to know that even animals are killed by this method. Almost the same method is used to kill animals too. Animals are usually killed for revenge. To take the revenge from an enemy, it is usual for a villager to kill his cattle! Animals may also be killed to prepare hides. The only difference in the method of killing is that in this case, the suis are attached to a wooden handle and the handle is then struck forcefully on the animal's buttocks. The needles find their way deep in the animal's flesh, from where the active ingredients slowly ooze out into the system, and the animal dies over a period of 3-4 days. The advantage of using this method, is that the injection marks of these suis look quite like viper bite (the necrosis around the marks is quite similar to that), and the owner of the cattle believes that his cattle were unfortunately bitten by the viper. Any chance of counter-revenge is thus averted. A clever killer may so arrange the distance between the two suis on a handle, as to completely mimic the distance between the two fangs of a viper!"

"Oh, how very ingenious. I only wish killers could use their ingenuity for constructive purposes."

"You can say that again Tarun. I sent the needle recovered from Mahesh's neck for chemical analysis, and it is found to contain high amounts of abrin. That proves my contention that Kiran indeed used the sui to kill Mahesh. I alerted the police to catch Kiran who would probably have gone scot free, but for this post-mortem examination. The police raided his house and have recovered lot of ratti seeds and some suis from his possession. In fact several ratti plants were growing in the backyard of his house. Subsequently the police questioned him. Initially he kept denying his involvement, but when faced with autopsy findings, he broke down and admitted his guilt. According to him, going to toilet was actually an excuse for fixing the needles in his palms. When Mahesh had refused to agree to his request, he had immediately made up his mind to kill him. In fact when he started out from home, he had kept this option in his mind, and for that reason, he had kept a handful of ratti needles in his pocket."

"Fantastic! That indeed is a most outrageous poison solved in a most ingenious way. You indeed are a great poison sleuth. What are you going to tell me next time?"

"Tarun, next time I shall tell you about a very deadly poison- Thallium. "