RAUTAHAT, NOVEMBER 15
A demonstration was held in Rautahat's Garuda Municipality today over the death of two children caused by rat poison yesterday.
Sanjaya Mukhiya's sons Akash, aged 5, and Bikas, aged 3, of Tikuliya village, Dewahi Gonahi Municipality, died after consuming rat poison yesterday.
Regarding the deaths, the locals held a demonstration, calling for an investigation.
The locals have described the poison-related deaths as 'suspicious' and sought action against the 'murderers'.
After the minors started vomiting last morning, their kin Jayalal Mukhiya gave them some home remedy at his home in Bisunpurwa Manpur. As they couldn't be treated, they were then admitted to Sanjivani Hospital of Shivanagar and then to Garuda-based Anamika and finally to Birgunj-based Tarai Hospital.
According to Garuda Area Police Office DSP Shreeram Bhandari, the minors died at the Birgunj-based hospital in the course of treatment.
"The post-mortem report conducted on the boys showed rat poison as the cause of death. We are seriously investigating to find out whether they consumed the poison themselves or were given by someone else,"
Bhandari said.
Further, DSP Bhandari informed that the kin today agreed to receive the bodies following agreement that the police would investigate the deaths in four days and identify the guilty. "In fact, the boys' mother, on the same day when the boys died, had her statement recorded, telling police that the boys were not poisoned by anyone. The police will investigate and bring to light the truth," he said.
Meanwhile, the demonstration lasted for about two hours. The demonstrators barricaded the road and kept the bodies on the road disrupting vehicular movement. Police had to use force to clear the road as the demonstrators seeking action against the guilty and compensation for the deaths refused to leave the road even after agreement was reached with the police. The boys' father is employed in Saudi Arabia.
A version of this article appears in the print on November 16, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
