Three-thousand ill from bad rice

Police in the central Indian city of Bhopal say that three thousand people were taken ill after eating contaminated rice at a religious ceremony.

Reports say that those taken ill were complaining of dizziness, blurred vision and diarrhoea.

A police spokesman said almost eighty percent of those who fell ill were women and children.

He said that the rice had been purchased from three traders in Bairagarh, a suburb of Bhopal, which is the capital of Madhya Pradesh state.

The traders have been arrested and police have sealed their shops.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service