"Let's See If We'll Live": 4 Bihar Girls Die After Consuming Poison As Experiment

Five friends walked into a field, but only one returned home. In a tragedy that has sent shockwaves through Bihar's Aurangabad district, four girls died after what the lone survivor described as a dark experiment to see "what poison tastes like."

The incident took place on January 29 in Moti Bigha village. According to the 14-year-old survivor, the group went to a secluded spot to consume a poisonous substance typically used to kill herons.

Recounting the moments leading up to the tragedy, the survivor told NDTV: "My friend said, 'let's eat it and see if we will live or die'. They gulped the poison meant to kill herons with water. I had very little of it and spat it out immediately, so I survived."

The horror unfolded quickly as she watched her four friends, all aged between 12 and 15, collapse and die in front of her. Terrified, the teenager fled to her home. Her family immediately forced her to drink a solution made of neem leaves to induce vomiting, a move that likely saved her life.

While the survivor describes a reckless pact of curiosity, the police version was different.

"Our investigation suggests the girls were seen roaming with some boys on the evening of Saraswati Puja," said Daudnagar SDPO Ashok Kumar Das. "The parents scolded them, and fueled by anger and shame, the five friends decided to die by suicide together."

However, the father of one of the victims - a migrant labourer who rushed back from Maharashtra - refuted the police's claims of a "love-related" motive. "All the girls were between 12 and 15 years old. How could such young girls fall in love with someone?" he asked, still struggling to comprehend why his daughter is gone.

The aftermath of the tragedy was marked by desperation. Due to severe financial constraints and the heavy weight of social pressure, the families did not wait for official procedures; all four girls were cremated together on a single pyre.

When NDTV visited the home of the girl who survived, only her grandparents were present at the time, and they said that they did not have much information about the case. For security reasons, the girl had been sent to a relative's home, five kilometres from the village, they informed.

The Bihar police have now recorded the minor's statement and are continuing to investigate every aspect of the case. "We are looking into all angles so that such incidents can be prevented in the future," a senior official said.

With inputs from Aditya Kumar