An eight-year-old girl died after suspected pesticide poisoning on August 2 at Vasanth Nagar in Bengaluru. The parents along with the child were rushed to Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain Hospital in Vasanth Nagar after they suffered difficulty in breathing. The family hails from Kannur in Kerala.
The family had left Bengaluru on Friday, July 29, to their native place in Kannur in Kerala after their house owner informed them that painting and pest control will be done in their house. Vinod Kumar, an MBA graduate working with a corporate company in Bengaluru, his wife Nisha and their daughter Ahaana returned to Bengaluru at 5:30 am on August 1. “The family slept till 7:30 am after which they made some coffee with the water that was already in the house. Then they slept again. After a while all three of them woke up due to breathing difficulties and called the ambulance,” their relative told Asianet News. Since the hospital was less than a km away from the house, the ambulance rushed as soon as the family made a call around 11.30 am. Vinod and Ahaana were taken to the hospital in the first round, the ambulance returned to the house and then took Nisha in the second trip. The child passed away by around 1.30 pm.
While the parents are still undergoing treatment and are disoriented, doctors suspect that the family inhaled toxic fumes left behind by pesticides used for cleaning. It is also suspected that the water used for making coffee could have been contaminated from pesticides used for pest control.
The body of the child has been sent for post mortem and an investigation is being carried out by the High Grounds Police Station as to which pesticide was used. Initial reports say that the parents are also critical and the mother has not yet been notified about her child’s death. The owner of the house has been booked under 304A of the Indian Penal Code for causing death due to negligence, based on a complaint by Vinod's relative. The police told TNM that the owner purchased a cleaner from the shop and used it. He has not been arrested yet.
Police told TNM that samples had been collected from the house and sent for forensic analysis.