Woman arrested for poisoning daughter's classmate in Puducherry for scoring top marks

In an incident that has caused strong outrage and shock, a woman in Puducherry’s Karaikal enclave allegedly poisoned to death her daughter’s classmate out of jealousy over his exemplary academic and extra-curricular achievements.

The victim, Bala Manikandan, aged 13, succumbed on Saturday night, following which police arrested his classmate’s mother Sagayarani.

According to police in Karaikal, the woman’s daughter was studying in class VIII in a private English medium school. Bala Manikandan, emerged the class topper, bettering her daughter’s performance.

On Friday, the boy had started vomiting at home and was taken to a hospital. He reportedly told his parents, Rajendran and Malathi, that he had become unwell after consuming soft drinks given to him by a woman in the school, who had reportedly told him his relatives had sent the cold drink through her.

The couple admitted him to the local Government Hospital and also filed a complaint with the police.

“Examination of the CCTV camera footage on the school campus showed a woman, who we later identified as Sahayarani Victoria (42), the mother of one of his female classmates, handing over the cold drink to the boy. We detained her for questioning and she confessed that she had poisoned the boy out of jealously that he did better academically than her daughter. We arrested her and remanded her in judicial custody,” a police officer said.

Meanwhile, the boy’s relatives also staged a protest alleging improper treatment at the hospital leading to Manigandan’s death on Saturday night.

Published on: Sunday, September 04, 2022, 09:41 PM IST