A 33-year-old woman died and 20 others suffered food poisoning after eating momos served by a street vendor at different locations in Hyderabad’s Banjara Hills area, police have said.

Reshma Begum and her daughters, aged 12 and 14, ate momos from a street vendor in Khairatabad Friday. Soon after, they started suffering from diarrhoea, stomach pain and vomiting. She died Sunday morning and her daughters are under treatment. Reshma Begum was a single mother and is survived by her daughters.

Ram Babu, Sub-inspector of Banjara Hills Police Station, told news agency PTI, “We received a complaint yesterday that Reshma Begum (33) died and 15 others suffered food poisoning after consuming memos (street food) from a single vendor at different locations. We have registered a case and are investigating the matter.”

An investigation has found that the vendor was operating without any food safety licence and that food was being prepared in unhygienic conditions. The dough used to prepare momos was placed in the refrigerator without any packing, the probe found. It also found that the refrigerator door was broken. Samples from the food vendor have been sent for lab analysis.

Following the police complaint by Reshma Begum’s family, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s food safety department and police located the street vendor. Two people running the stall have been detained and a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder filed.

The steps will reduce the number of extreme protocols when there are 30-50 threats in a day, and will save resources and manpower