'Wanted to target' religious event: Mumbai mass poisoning plot foiled, 14,000 'rat poison' capsules seized from Pune man

In a shocking development at a Muharram procession in South Mumbai's Byculla area, a Pune man was arrested for trying to poison people en masse using zinc phosphide.

The police said that about 14,900 capsules of zinc phosphide, commonly used as rat poison, were confiscated from the man, identified as 39-year-old Faiyaz Premji.

“He told us he wanted to target the procession and harm them. He had ordered 30,000 capsules online and 50kg of zinc phosphide. He added 1g of zinc phosphide to each capsule,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Jayant Meena, to reporters.

At the Muharram event on Friday night, Premji then allegedly distributed the capsules, claiming that they were "painkillers".

DCP Meena added that the case came to light after employees of a hospital reported that a man had been admitted with vomiting and severe stomach cramps at around 4 AM on Saturday morning after consuming one such "painkiller" tablet that had been handed out during the procession.

Suspecting a possible plot, the doctors of the hospital alerted the police, who promptly nabbed Premji.

An initial probe into Premji has revealed that he is a BBA graduate, whose father owns a paint company in Pune. His mother and sister, however, are in Iran, which he had visited back in 2025.

However, the probe is yet to find whether these factor into the larger motives behind Premji's mass poisoning plot, which is currently unknown.

DCP Meena added that by acting swiftly based on the doctors' suspicions, the police had averted a major tragedy.

Efforts are also underway to trace other people who took the pills, and if any of them faced similar health issues.