Krishnagar, June 30: A mother emptied half a bottle of pesticide down her five-year-old daughter’s throat before drinking the rest herself in a Nadia village after being told to go cooking instead of teaching alphabets to the child.

Swagata Biswas was declared brought dead at the Ranaghat Subdivisional Hospital around 11 this morning. Mother Lakshmi, 25, died at 2pm.

Lakshmi’s husband Sanatan is deaf and mute and does not work. His father Gopal, who has 4 acres of farmland, runs the family at Panchberia village, 70km from Calcutta.

Police said Lakshmi killed herself after being reprimanded by her mother-in-law for not going to the kitchen.

When she was told to cook this morning, Lakshmi, who had studied till Madhyamik, was teaching Swagata, a nursery student in a local school.

The mother-in-law, Basanti, told police she did not mean any harm but had only told her daughter-in-law to begin cooking for the day.

“We don’t know what transpired between the two because Sanatan is deaf-mute and there was no other witness,” said an officer of the Dhantola police station.

Gopal, however, told the police that there was an altercation and Lakshmi shut the door on her mother-in-law’s face. “She killed her daughter and committed suicide inside the room,” the officer said.

Drawn by the cries of Swagata, Gopal raised the alarm. “Neighbours broke open the door and found them writhing in pain and foaming from the mouth,” said Nadia police chief H.K. Kusumakar.

The police said a preliminary probe had revealed that Basanti often made snide remarks about the fact that Gopal was still running the family.