Chinese manja (Tangus) being sold at a shop in Hyderabad.
| Photo Credit: File Photo
A Naik-rank officer of the Indian Army succumbed to his injuries, reportedly after his throat got slit by a Chinese manja (abrasive string used for flying kites) here in Langer House police limits on Saturday.
The victim, Kagithala Koteswar Reddy, 30, was declared ‘dead on arrival’ at a local hospital.
According to the police, Reddy hailed from Pedda Wailter of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. A driver in the Military Hospital here, he and his wife were residing at Bapu Nagar in Langer House.
The incident took place at around 7.25 p.m., when he was on his scooter on the Indra Reddy flyover. Pictures from the scene showed a blood-stained scooter, a kite and the manja that entangled his neck.
Langer House police said an inquest report was made and noted that the kite string caused the death of the officer. The post-mortem examination was conducted at the Osmania General Hospital and the mortal remains were handed over to the family, for transporting them for final rites at Pedda Waltair.
The police opened an investigation under IPC S. 304 (ii) – Culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Within a span of 24 hours, the city witnessed three more deaths related to kite flying.
On Saturday evening, Shiva, 13, fell from the terrace of a four-storey building in Nagole. Police said that the boy, an eighth class student, was flying kites with his friends when he accidentally fell. “He succumbed while undergoing treatment later in the night,” said the police.
Meanwhile, in Alwal, Vikas, 20, also allegedly slipped and fell from the terrace of a five-storey building on Saturday. The Pet Basheerabad police said they are yet to receive a complaint from the family regarding the ‘accidental’ death.
On Friday evening, an 11-year-old boy was allegedly electrocuted on the terrace of his apartment building in Attapur, Cyberabad. He accidentally touched the electrical circuit board on the terrace while flying the kite. “The circuit board was negligently left uncovered by the building management and we have booked a case against them,” said Attapur police.
