Chinese manja slashes Andheri schoolboy's throat in Jaipur on Makar Sankranti

Jaipur/ Mumbai: The unchecked use of banned Chinese manja or glass-coated kite string killed six-year-old Andheri schoolboy Dheer Sanganeria during a visit to Jaipur, Rajasthan, on the festival of Makar Sankranti Jan 14. Sanganeria lost his life after the manja slit his throat as he was enjoying a car ride through the sun roof. His family has organised a condolence meeting in Andheri Sunday.In Jaipur, industrialist and advertising honcho JD Maheshwari, Dheer's maternal grandfather, told TOI the family was shocked and distraught and unable to discuss the incident at length. The only child of Maheshwari's daughter, Dheer was visiting his maternal grandparents to celebrate Makar Sankranti.
Maheshwari's friend, Girraj Khandelwal said, "Dheer and his father were on an outing. They were travelling by car when the boy opened the sun roof to watch kites flying. While he was looking up, the string of a snapped kite slit his throat."The boy's father rushed him to other hospitals before finally taking him to SMS Hospital. However, Dheer was declared dead on arrival.Back in Mumbai, Borivli resident Bharat Kadam, 45, was riding his bike to his workplace in Santacruz when he was struck by Chinese manja near Andheri Flyover on the Western Express Highway Wednesday afternoon.The Andheri police made a diary entry of the incident and are probing the case. They have seized the manja to detect the shop that sold it. Police said Kadam sustained deep cuts to either side of his neck but luckily escaped with no injury to his windpipe.Right afterwards, Kadam left his bike on the flyover and called his wife and brother Santosh to alert them before taking an auto rickshaw to reach VN Desai Hospital in Santacruz East, where he underwent surgery and is recuperating. "Kadam's neck was slashed by the manja which was entangled around a light pole on the flyover. His family said the incident occurred at 1.30 pm when he left home after lunch," said an officer of Andheri police.Kadam's brother Santosh told police that his brother underwent surgery, received multiple stitches but was out of danger. "The traffic police removed the stuck manja on the flyover and handed it over to us," said the police.Meanwhile this season, Jaipur reported three deaths and over 150 injuries during the kite flying festival. Not all deaths, however, were due to Chinese manja. At least 30 patients were admitted to the SMS hospital trauma centre for treatment, while over 100 birds were injured or killed because of the abrasive, glass-coated kite strings.(Inputs by Bella Jaisinghani)