The deceased has been identified as Qamaruddin.

The police have sent sample from the cold drink bottle to the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL).

Seelampur police have registered a case under IPC Sections 272 (adulteration of food or drink intended for sale) and 304-A (causing death by negligence) and are questioning distributor of the aerated drink to Jameel’s shop. The FIR has been lodged against unnamed persons.

The police said Qamruddin, who had gone to Jameel’s shop with friends Shehbab Ahmed and Arshad, first complained of “bad taste” after taking a sip or two from the bottle. Jameel tried it thereafter and found the flavour “different”, the police said. Shehbab and Arshad then asked for separate bottles but they, too, felt the taste awry.

Within a few minutes, all four began shivering and vomiting. “We felt dizzy and I had a strange sensation of fear; then we fainted,” Arshad said at the hospital on Saturday. Shehbab said Qamruddin, who had taken a few sips of the drink, suddenly fell on the road and started foaming at the mouth.

He was declared dead on arrival at Lok Nayak Hospital. The postmortem report is expected on Sunday.

“We have picked up a distributor of cold drinks in Brahmpuri — Jameel always bought crates of soft drinks from him,” a police officer said.

The families of the victims, meanwhile, claimed the soft drink was adulterated and called for action against the company. “It is the company’s fault; we will not sit silently,” Shehbab’s brother Mohammad Jabbar said.