In a shocking incident, a 13-year-old boy was poisoned by his classmate’s mother in Karaikal, Puducherry, due to his rivalry with the woman’s daughter to secure first rank in the class. The boy, Bala Manigandan, was admitted to the hospital after he experienced severe vomiting but died on Saturday, September 3. The police have taken his classmate's mother into custody for questioning, after the boy’s parents filed a complaint at the Karaikal police station, and further investigations are underway.
Bala was a Class 8 student in a private English medium school in Karaikal. He was the second child of Rajendran and Malathi, who have a daughter and one more son. The school’s annual day was coming up and Bala was a part of one of the performances, for which he was rehearsing in school. During the rehearsal, he received a bag of cold drinks given by the school watchman, saying that it was given by his parents through a relative. The 13-year-old had consumed the drink from the bag and went home after the rehearsal was done.
Upon reaching home, Bala asked his mother about who had given the cold drinks to the watchman at school. As he was talking, he began vomiting and his parents rushed him to the Karaikal government hospital. Rajendran and Malathi questioned the school management about what happened during the rehearsal, and the CCTV footage from the school was examined. The footage revealed that his classmate’s mother, Sagayarani Victoria, had given a white bag with the cold drinks to the watchman. She asked the watchman to give the bag to Bala, saying that she was his relative.
Bala’s parents then informed the school management that there was some rivalry between Sagayarani’s daughter and their son, and that there had been a conflict between the two. His parents alleged that Sagayarani poisoned the cold drinks so that her daughter could secure the first rank in the class. The incident has caused tension in parts of Karaikal, as Bala’s relatives have been protesting outside the hospital, alleging that the boy died because of a faulty surgery.