Milk contamination case toll rises to five in Rajamahendravaram, accused vendor arrested

Rajamahendravaram: The death toll in the acute kidney failure cases reported in Rajahmundry rose to five on Tuesday. A six-year-old boy, Bathina Manohar from the Quarry Market area, who was suffering from anuria, was admitted to KGH in Visakhapatnam and died on Tuesday.Meanwhile, in connection with cr.No.90/2026 of III Town L\&O Police Station, which was initially registered under Section 194 BNSS and later altered to Sections 103, 105, and 275 BNS, police investigations have uncovered serious lapses related to adulterated milk being sold in the region.According to the DSP, Kovvur, G Deva Kumar, the accused, Addala Ganeswara Rao alias Ganesh (32), a resident of Narasapuram village in Korukonda mandal, voluntarily appeared before the police on Feb 23. During interrogation in the presence of mediators, he confessed that he had been operating an unauthorized milk collection centre named Varalakshmi Dairy for the past 11 years without any government approval.According to his statement, glycol from the freezer used to store milk had leaked and contaminated the milk. On Feb 15, he noticed that milk in one can had frozen at the bottom. Despite receiving complaints of bitterness from initial customers—Chonga Ramakrishna, Chonga Govindaraju, Peddapati Nageswara Rao and Dengeti Nagendra—he continued selling the milk.His brother-in-law, Degala Gangadhara of Narendra Puram, had warned him that the freezer might be defective and glycol leakage could make the milk poisonous, advising him not to sell it. Ignoring this, driven by profit, the accused sold the contaminated milk on February 16 to around 100–105 consumers in Rajamahendravaram and his village.Many customers later reported bitterness and fell ill, requiring treatment at various hospitals. During the investigation, it was also established that Tadi Krishnaveni of Gandhipuram-4 died on February 22 after consuming the adulterated milk, further increasing the case's severity.Police have arrested the accused and initiated action to produce him before court for judicial remand and the court remanded him to remand till March 10. Further investigation is underway, focusing on technical evidence and medical reports of the affected victim