Five persons of a family, including two minor siblings, in Purulia district were taken ill after drinking a hot liquid prepared by boiling pesticide instead of tea grains, the police said.
The pesticide and tea grains looked similar and hence the former was used by mistake in place of tea by the family at Durgu village under Kenda police station.
The police said the five were taken to district headquarter hospital here and the condition of a woman, Kadam Singh (65), was critical.
The other four persons who were hospitalised were her son Narendra Singh Sardar (45), her daughter-in-law Sunita (40), her grand-son Gurupada (13) and grand-daughter Manimala (8).
