A three-year-old toddler succumbed to death on Sunday after a glass-coated thread popularly known as ‘manja thread’ slit his throat A three-year-old toddler succumbed to death on Sunday after a glass-coated thread popularly known as ‘manja thread’ slit his throat

A three-year-old boy died after a glass-coated thread, popularly known as Chinese manjha (kite string), slit his throat while riding back home with his parents in Tondiarpet near Chennai.

The incident happened on Sunday at a flyover in Meenambal Nagar near Korukkupet, police said. CCTV visuals showed the boy, Abhimanyu, got entangled in the manjha while riding on a two-wheeler with his father Gopal and mother Smithra. When Gopal stopped the bike, he found his son bleeding from the neck. With the help of some passersby, Gopal rushed the toddler to Stanley Medical College Hospital. However, doctors informed the parents he succumbed to his injury.

A special team was formed to nab the persons responsible for sale of the banned manjha. Speaking to reporters on Monday, AC Dhinakaran said: “Sales of manjha thread is already banned in the city. If anyone tries to sell this illegally, they will be arrested under the Goondas Act.”

DCP G Subbulakshmi told indianexpress.com that the police have raided shops selling manjha.

“Till now no one has been arrested. We have been conducting inquiries with a few young adults whom we suspect in connection with this incident. We raided a few shops Korukkupet, Washermanpet, Kasimedu, Tondiarpet and have seized 32 kites with manjha threads,” he said.

The city police had banned flying of kites using manjha threads in 2015.

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