The case of the death of a woman and her granddaughter after poisoning with watermelon was investigated for more than a year

The investigation of the criminal case on the death of a grandmother and her granddaughter, who in 2021 were poisoned by a watermelon purchased in a chain store in Moscow, has been completed.

“The accusation under part 3 of Art. 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Performance of work and provision of services that do not meet the requirements of the safety of life and health of consumers, if they entailed by negligence the infliction of serious harm to human health, resulting in the death of two persons through negligence”) was charged against 40-year-old resident of the Moscow Region Anton Kotov”, – quotes the words of the head of the press service of the Moscow prosecutor’s office, Lyudmila Nefedova, the Moscow City News Agency.

Recall that the story took place in Moscow in September last year and received a wide public outcry. A watermelon bought at the Magnit store on Sovkhoznaya Street poisoned an entire family – a 38-year-old woman, her 15-year-old daughter and mother born in 1960. Doctors were able to save only the first of them, and the grandmother and granddaughter died from acute chemical poisoning.

Employees of the Moscow department of Rospotrebnadzor, who conducted an inspection in the store, found traces of a substance that is used to treat premises from insects.

The Lublin inter-district prosecutor’s office took up the investigation of the incident. The main version as a result was a violation of the rules during the disinfestation in the store. It turned out that the disinfection of the premises in the ill-fated Magnit was carried out by Anton Kotov, an employee of the Regional Disinfection Center. He was detained, then sent under house arrest, and in May of this year he was given a preventive measure in the form of a ban on certain actions.

All this time, the investigation continued, and now its results have become known.

“According to the case file, Kotov was an employee of an organization that, on April 1, 2021, entered into an agreement for preventive deratization, disinfection and disinfestation with a store on the street. Sovkhoznaya, where the watermelon was subsequently sold. On September 6, the defendant arrived at the said premises, where he carried out the treatment with the insecticide “Cigatrin”. According to investigators, Kotov, wanting to reduce the amount of work, performed it with violations of precautionary measures to prevent poisoning by insecticides, which led to the ingress of poison on unpackaged watermelons that were on the trading floor, ”said Lyudmila Nefyodova.

Now the criminal case has been submitted to the Moscow prosecutor’s office for consideration of the issue of approving the indictment.

Alena Bodrienko.

Photo by Alexander Avilov / Moskva Agency