Three-year-old girl killed, cop injured by kite string in Delhi

A three-year-old girl died and a police sub-inspector was injured after their necks got entangled in metal-coated kite thread (manjha) in separate incidents in Delhi, police said on Tuesday.

A three-year-old girl died and a police sub-inspector was injured after their necks got entangled in metal-coated kite string (manjha) in separate incidents in Delhi, police said on Tuesday.

The house of three-year old girl Saachi, who died after her throat was slit by a kite string while peeking out of the sunroof of a car, at Ranibagh in New Delhi. (Virendra Singh Gosain/HT Photo)

The first incident took place around 6:30 pm on Monday, when the girl, Saanchi Goyal, was returning home with her parents after watching a movie in Naraina.

The girl was looking out of the open sunroof of the car when her neck got slit by a ‘manjha’ in Rani Bagh area, a police officer said.

She was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead, he said, adding that they were trying to ascertain whether the girl was entangled by ‘Chinese manjha’, which has a sharper lead coating.

A case of negligence was registered at the Rani Bagh police station.

“A case has been registered under section 304(A) (causing death by negligence) and we have to determine whether it was ‘Chinese manjha’ that took the girl’s life,” said Vijay Singh, deputy commissioner of police (northwest).

In another incident, sub-inspector Manoj Kumar was injured as a kite string grazed his neck when he was returning to the Anand Vihar police station after Independence Day duty in the evening.

In West Delhi’s Vikaspuri area, a 22-year-old man, Zafar Khan, lost his life after his neck was slashed by ‘manjha’ while riding a bike on a flyover on Monday.