Following a divorce triggered by physical abuse and coercive control, Ajit Kumar developed intense jealousy toward his ex-wife Shreesha, a doctor living in Berkshire, England. Determined to inflict severe emotional torment upon her, Ajit Kumar orchestrated multiple failed murder plots against her family in Hyderabad, India, including hitman hiring, staged vehicular assault, lethal injections, and arson. He eventually succeeded in executing a slow-poisoning plot by procuring laboratory-grade chemical poison through his sister in Hyderabad and paying local operatives and delivery workers to intercept and poison household spices and restaurant delivery food. The poisoning resulted in the death of Shreesha's mother, Uma Maheshwari, on July 5, 2023, and caused severe illness in other family members. Hyderabad police uncovered the scheme through forensic testing of kitchen spices and food delivery packaging, leading to the arrest of nine co-conspirators in India and the subsequent arrest of Ajit Kumar in Berkshire by British police pending legal trial and extradition.
Country: India
State/Province: Telangana, India
City/Region: Hyderabad
Incident Type: Domestic Violence Homicide
Relationship Status: Divorced
Relationship Duration: Approximately 3 years
Incident Date: July 5, 2023
Relationship Origins:
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How the relationship or connection began.
Approximately 3 years
Important relationship phases recorded for this case.
Reported red flags or early concern points.
Contributing factors and possible motives from the available sources.
2023-07-05
Recorded relationship or case outcome.
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Jealousy
Following a legal divorce prompted by domestic abuse, the offender experienced severe resentment and narcissistic injury upon observing his ex-wife's stable post-divorce recovery. Driven by fixated revenge, the offender decided to inflict maximum grief by targeting her nuclear family members in India rather than killing her directly. He pursued a systematic multi-attempt pathway, progressing from failed contract killings and staged accidents to a sophisticated supply-chain poisoning conspiracy utilizing family accomplices and bribed delivery personnel.
Hyderabad Police launched a homicide investigation after forensic testing revealed lethal chemical poison in household spice containers and delivery food packaging following the death of Uma Maheshwari. Investigators utilized CCTV analysis, delivery route tracking, and financial tracing to uncover a bribery scheme where local operatives intercepted food delivery workers from services like Blinkit. Nine co-conspirators were arrested in India, including Ajit Kumar's sister, who supplied chemical poisons from her laboratory workplace. Information was transferred to British police in Berkshire, who arrested Ajit Kumar. He was remanded in custody through August awaiting formal trial and potential extradition to India.
The victim's family initially misidentified recurring illness and sudden vomiting as routine food poisoning or environmental illness. Switching from home-cooked food to commercial restaurant delivery temporarily masked the source of contamination, as restaurant orders were clear until operatives adapted and began intercepting delivery drivers. Forensic screening initially tested water and cooked food samples without detecting poison until a family friend insisted on testing individual dry spice containers.
After his divorce from Shreesha was finalized in Berkshire, Ajit Kumar resolved to punish her by destroying her family. Learning of her brother Surendra's wedding in Hyderabad in June 2023, he initiated a covert poisoning campaign. He instructed his sister, a laboratory technician in Hyderabad, to supply specialized toxic chemicals. Local operatives bribed delivery drivers bringing online grocery and restaurant orders to the household, opening packaging to mix in slow-acting poison. Uma Maheshwari ingested concentrated amounts and died on July 5, 2023. When the family switched to outside food orders, operatives intercepted those deliveries as well. Forensic testing identified poison in both spices and restaurant food, leading police to track delivery personnel, arrest nine co-conspirators, and request British authorities to arrest Ajit Kumar in Berkshire.
High-risk post-separation lethality. The offender demonstrated severe fixated stalking, premeditated multi-jurisdictional planning, willingness to employ hired contract killers, and lethal supply-chain tampering. Post-divorce boundaries failed to mitigate risk, as the perpetrator shifted violent fixations toward the victim's secondary support system.
Post-divorce risk assessments must account for indirect threats aimed at a victim's family members. Complex poisoning plots can leverage modern last-mile delivery services by corrupting intermediaries, requiring investigators to evaluate physical supply-chain integrity when unexplained mass family illnesses occur.
The primary early signals included Ajit Kumar's sudden hostility and physical assault toward Shreesha's young daughter in 2021, severe domestic abuse in Berkshire, and extreme resentment following Shreesha's decision to file for legal divorce.
Critical clues included the recurrence of illness whenever home-cooked food was consumed, the initial temporary cessation of symptoms when switching to restaurant food, and the eventual forensic lab findings showing identical poison in dry kitchen spices and delivery packages.
The strongest evidence consisted of laboratory chemical analysis matching poison in home spices and restaurant orders, CCTV footage of delivery drivers being intercepted, financial bribe records, toxic chemical supplies seized from Ajit's sister's laboratory, and communications linking Ajit Kumar in England to the local operatives.
Initial police and medical assumptions of accidental food poisoning were revised to a full homicide investigation following laboratory confirmation of toxic chemicals in spice jars. Interrogations of arrested suspects revealed four previously undetected failed murder plots against Hanumant Rao.
Extradition proceedings to transfer Ajit Kumar from British custody to India remain pending judicial outcomes and trial verdicts in the United Kingdom.