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Punjab girl dies after eating birthday cake ordered online, FIR lodged
Police say raids on to arrest the owner of the local eatery from where the cake was ordered via a food delivery app
Patiala police registered an FIR and conducted raids to arrest an eatery owner after a 10-year-old girl died of suspected food poisoning after consuming a birthday cake.
On the complaint of the victim’s family, the Patiala police, on Thursday, registered an FIR against the bakery under Sections 273 (sale of noxious drink or food) and 304-A (Causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code.
Patiala senior superintendent police Varun Sharma said raids are on to arrest the eatery owner.
“The viscera sample of the deceased girl has been sent to the state forensic lab, Kharar, to ascertain the cause of death,” Sharma said.
Read: Food poisoning: Causes, symptoms and prevention
As per the complaint, the cake was ordered from a food delivery app to celebrate the birthday of the girl on March 24.
“Within a few hours of eating the cake, the health of all the family members started to deteriorate. The birthday girl and the four family members started vomiting continuously. After a few hours, the girl went to sleep and was found unresponsive during the wee hours of March 25. While the other members of the family recovered by morning, the victim was rushed to a nearby private hospital where she was declared brought dead,” the complaint to police said.
Read: How to recover from food poisoning
The deceased’s kin alleged that they had approached the health department on March 27 for a probe into the matter but were turned away by senior officials.
Food safety officer Jaswinder Singh said that since the family was alleging poisoning, it didn’t fall under their preview.
“The family members of the deceased had alleged poisoning, which doesn’t come under our purview,” Jaswinder said, adding the department will soon collect the samples after getting details of the bakery.
