(Padma) Hazaribagh, Nov. 20: Around 150 residents, including 20 children, of a Hazaribagh village were admitted to sadar hospital this morning with fever, stomach pain and vomiting after they consumed chana (gram), stocked and preserved for around a year with pesticide, at the dash karam (tenth day after death) ritual of an elderly woman on Wednesday.

The mass illness, which doctors at Hazaribagh Sadar Hospital confirmed as food poisoning, sparked panic at Simar Bari village in Padma block located some 32km from the district headquarters, prompting the district administration to rush a medical team led by Barhi subdivisional officer Mohammad Shabbir Ahmad to the area.

Gram samples have been collected for forensic tests.

According to sources, around 300 villagers attended the dash karam of farmer Ramlal Mahto's mother in Simar Bari on Wednesday. Around 4pm, they were given gram to eat in keeping with custom. While nothing happened on that day, those who ate the chana started falling ill on Thursday.

"Many contacted local doctors and quacks, who prescribed antibiotics. But the situation started worsening since yesterday when the condition of the ill deteriorated. It was then that people started dropping at the sadar hospital one by one," said Inder Mahto, a local resident.

Lakhan Kushwaha, among those admitted to the hospital, said they didn't feel anything till 6am yesterday. "By 9am today, panic had gripped the entire village (comprising 800 households) as the symptoms started becoming acute. I feel much better now," he added.

At the hospital, one of the doctors, Major P.K. Sinha, said it was the case of mass food poisoning. "The symptoms of fever, vomiting and stomach ache were common. Right now, I can only say that this happened because of food poisoning. Those admitted are out of danger," he told The Telegraph.

Villagers claimed that Mahto had preserved the gram for a year with the help of pesticide although this is a very common practice among farmers. "Farmers usually stock agriculture products with pesticide to keep them safe. Mahto also did the same. Who would know it would backfire like this?" one of them asked.

Subdivisional officer Ahmad, who is camping at the village with two doctors, said initial inquiry confirmed the pesticide angle.

"The Mahto family had mixed sulphur powder, a pesticide that is highly poisonous, to the gram to preserve it. What saved the villagers was that Mahto's family members had washed the gram before serving it to guests. Also, as the gram had been stored for a year, the effect of sulphur had minimised, or else, there could have been casualties," Ahmad said, adding they had deployed police force in the village to prevent a backlash.