A snack shop owner was executed in China's eastern city of Nanjing after being found guilty of killing 42 people by lacing a competitor's food with rat poison, state media said.
Chen Zhenping, who was arrested a month ago, was put to death after the Higher People's Court of Jiangsu province upheld a previous death sentence meted out late last month, the China News Service reported.
"The facts are clear, the evidence is reliable and ample, and the punishment is suitable," the court said, confirming the original sentence by the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court.
Chen was arrested on September 14th, a day after hundreds of people fell ill from eating breakfast snacks bought from a shop in Tangshan township in Nanjing city, state media reports at the time said.
Chen, who owned another snack shop in Tangshan, reportedly confessed to the crime, saying he poisoned fried dough sticks, sesame cakes and glutinous rice prepared by the Zhengwu Pastry Bar because he was jealous of the shop's success.
Forty-two people have died, and over 300 were made ill after eating the poison-laced breakfasts, the China News Service said.
AFP