Bidar, 10 Feb

The Bidar Upalokayukta has taken suo motu cognisance of a fatal kite-string accident, ordering action against district officials over alleged administrative lapses.

The case relates to a motorcyclist who died after a manja string used for flying kites got entangled around his neck in Bidar.

The incident occurred on 14 January, when Sanjeev Kumar, 48, a resident of Bombalagi village in Bidar taluk, was riding his motorcycle near the Talamadagi bridge in Chitaguppa taluk on National Highway 65, when his throat was slit by a manjha string.

Kumar suffered severe injuries and later succumbed to them and died.

Upalokayukta Justice B Veerappa registered a complaint against the Bidar Sub-Divisional Officer Mohammed Shakeel, Basavakalyan Sub-Divisional Officer Prakash Kudari, Manna Ekhelli Assistant Sub-Inspector Mahendra Kumar, Chitaguppa Circle Inspector Srinivas Allapur, Humnabad Deputy Superintendent of Police Madolappa, and Chitaguppa Tahsildar Manjunath Panchal.

The dangers of using manja strings in kite flying were reported by both a state-level Kannada daily and a national English daily.

Senior officials have been instructed to completely ban Manja throughout the Bidar district and submit the supporting documents in person on 3 March.