Kite string slits biker’s throat, found dead on Ghaziabad flyover

A middle-aged biker was found dead lying in a pool of blood with his throat slit by a kite string on the Thakurdwara Flyover in old Ghaziabad on Friday.

A middle-aged biker was found dead lying in a pool of blood with his throat slit by a kite string on the Thakurdwara Flyover in old Ghaziabad on Friday.

A cab driver spotted Yogesh Sharma (52), a resident of Maujpur in Delhi, with his helmet still on, lying dead over his bike’s petrol tank on the Thakurdwara Flyover. (Ht photo)

The flyover is famous for kite flying. A cab driver spotted Yogesh Sharma (52), a resident of Maujpur in Delhi, with his helmet still on, lying dead over his bike’s petrol tank. The driver informed the police.

“We got a call from the control room about the incident. We called back the caller… I asked him why he did not rush him to a hospital. He said he was in a hurry and was distressed after seeing blood gushing out of the victim’s neck,” said Dharmendra Kumar, a constable with the team that rushed to the scene.

“The victim was wearing a helmet but it did not protect him. The plastic ‘manjha’ had slipped after hitting the front of the helmet and got stuck to his throat,” he added.

Manjha is an abrasive string used for fighter kites. It is gummed, coloured and coated with powdered glass to make it sharp.

He was rushed to the nearby MMG District Hospital. Doctors Sharma was brought dead at 6pm.

People, young and old, participate in kite flying that starts with the onset of monsoon and goes on till Raksha Bandhan. Incidents of birds dying after being cut by kite strings are often reported during the season from the area.

The accident took place when the victim was driving towards the new bus stand, on his way back home. “He had gone to his native place at Secunderabad and was heading home…He ran a property dealing business at Indirapuram…We could not believe something as small as a ‘manjha’ has shattered our family,” said a cousin of the victim Rakesh Sharma.

His bike was driven to Kotwali police station. The petrol tank was smeared in blood and a rear-view mirror also had blood stains.