An 11-year-old boy in Kerala passed away on Tuesday, October 18, over three weeks after he consumed a cold drink laced with poison. Ashwin was a Class 6 student at Maya Krishna Swamy Vidyalaya at Athencode. On September 24, Ashwin was offered the soft drink mixed with poison by another student from the school, however, police said that Ashwin could not identify the other student.
As per reports, Ashwin told his family that a student approached him and offered him the cola drink, but he only took a small sip as the taste was odd. The incident reportedly took place near the school’s washroom. That evening, after reaching home, the boy developed a fever. The following day, he experienced severe stomach ache, vomiting and breathlessness, following which he was taken to a hospital in Neyyattinkara. Later, after tests were performed, it was determined that the drink contained acid. Since then, Ashwin’s kidneys were affected and he was undergoing dialysis. Police said that the child’s other internal organs were also damaged.
The Sucheendram police have filed the case under Section 328 (causing hurt by means of poison with intent to commit offense) of the Indian Penal Code and investigation is underway. However, police have not yet identified the culprit or revealed what kind of acid was found in Ashwin’s body. Though the school authorities were questioned and nearby CCTV visuals were checked, police were not able to identify the student in question.
In a similar incident, a 13-year-old boy in Karaikal passed away after he was poisoned by his classmate’s mother over academic rivalry in September. Bala Manigandan was a Class 8 student in a private English medium school in Karaikal. He became very ill and later succumbed after consuming a cold drink, which the school watchman said had been sent by Bala’s parents through a relative. After his parents approached the school management and CCTV footage was examined, it was found that the “relative” who gave Bala the drink was in fact his classmate’s mother, Sagayarani Victoria. His parents alleged that Sagayarani poisoned the cold drinks so that her daughter could secure the first rank in the class.