Ashish Pandey 
Nagpur:
A man has been arrested for allegedly poisoning and killing his 18-year-old friend and neighbour in Maharashtra’s Nagpur city out of jealousy over his wealthy background, police said on Tuesday.
The police on Monday arrested Mithlesh alias Manthan Rajendra Chakole (19), a resident of Nilkanth Nagar in Hudkeshwar, for the death of Vedant alias Vijay Kalidas Khandate, who lived in the same neighbourhood, an official said.
He said while the victim came from a wealthy background and his family had recently built a two-storey house with modern amenities, the accused lived in a smaller home and was jealous of him.
On April 8, Manthan called Vedant to a nearby ‘paan’ shop, where they both had soft drinks. The accused allegedly spiked the Vedant’s drink with a cockroach-repellent gel, the official said.
He said the victim later returned home and complained of dizziness, and his condition quickly worsened. He was rushed to a hospital in Sakkardara, where doctors suspected that he was poisoned and began treatment.
Vedant didn’t regain consciousness and passed away on April 12, he said.
The official said the police initially registered a case of accidental death, but the medical report showed he had poison in his body, and doctors said it was unlikely he had consumed such a substance knowingly.
On tracing Vedant’s final movements and phone calls, the police discovered that his last phone call was to the accused, who admitted that they had met at a ‘paan’ shop and had soft drinks, he said.
Manthan was taken into custody on suspicion, and during interrogation, he confessed to having poisoned the victim out of jealousy, the official said.
He said the accused claimed that he had only planned to make the victim sick to teach him a lesson and did not intend to kill him.
The official said the accused, during the interrogation, also claimed that he panicked when Vedant’s condition became serious, and wrote a fake ransom note and left it on a car belonging to the victim’s father to mislead the police and make the incident appear like a case of kidnapping or extortion attempt
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Neetu