Man arrested under Wildlife Protection Act for biting snake to death in Karnataka

In a shocking incident, a pharmacist-cum-production manager of an Ayurvedic product company in Chennai’s T.Nagar died after drinking a chemical preparation he reportedly formulated for tackling the Coronavirus.

The managing director of the company, who is an ophthamologist by qualification, was hospitalised after he fainted soon after he ingested the chemical component.

The deceased, K.Sivanesan, 47, of Perungudi, was with Chennai-based Sujatha Biotech, an Ayurvedic and herbal products company which was founded 30 years ago. It has a plant in Kashipur, Uttarakhand, where Sivanesan was working. Sivanesan had devised formulas of various products and used to visit his managing director Dr. Rajkumar frequently in the city.

Due to the lockdown, Sivanesan came to Chennai and stayed with his family in Perungudi. On Thursday morning, he procured the chemical component from a market in Parry’s Corner.

First he gave a small amount powder he derived from the chemical to 67 years-old Rajkumar who fainted after tasting it.

Even as he was being resuscitated, Sivanesan went into the kitchen of the house and gulped it in liquid form after adding water to it. He could not be revived.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, T.Nagar, Ashok Kumar, said, “Our investigation revealed that Sivanesan died after drinking the preparation he claimed would help COVID-19 patients. His managing director fainted after tasting it initially. Further investigation is on.”

Sivanesan was rushed to a private hospital in T.Nagar and declared dead by the doctors there. Later his body was shifted to Government Royapettah Hospital for post-mortem. Teynampet police registered a case under section 174 of Criminal Procedure Code for unnatural death.

N.S.Vasan, designer-cum-media manager of the company said, “Due to the lockdown, Sivanesan stayed in the city and one day told us he heard of some medicine from U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent speech for curing Coronavirus. He said it would bring more immunity and help to prevent COVID-19. Deciding to test the effect of the medicine, he went to Parry’s Corner and bought the powder.” He added that Sivanesan must have taken a heavy dosage of the ‘drug’ and he was killed instantly.

Bengaluru, Feb 21: A young woman in Bengaluru was detained today for holding a placard saying ''Free Kashmir'' at a demonstration in the city to protest against the arrest of college student Amulya Leona who had raised pro-Pakistan slogans at an anti-CAA rally a day ago.

The arrested has been identified as Ardra Narayan, a 20-year-old student of an engineering college at Malleshwaram in the city's western suburb.

"Ardra Narayan is being questioned at the Silver Jubilee Park police station after she was whisked away from the spot and detained for holding the placard with ''Free Kashmir'' written on it," Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao said.

On a complaint by Sri Ram Sena activists, who were protesting against Amulya at the venue, the police booked a suo moto case against Ardra under sections 153A and 153B of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) for disturbing peace and harmony.

The placard also displayed ''Give Us Liberation'' and ''Freedom from India'', a Sri Ram Sena activist alleged.

The development comes a day after Amulya, 19, was arrested under section 124A of the IPC for sedition and jailed for 14 days for allegedly shouting "Pakistan Zindabad" at the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rally at Freedom Park in the city centre on Thursday.

"We are trying to ascertain if there is any connection between Amuly and Ardra though she was alone at the spot holding the placard," Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) R. Chandrashekar told news agency.

Mangaluru, May 4: District Health Officer Dr Ramachandra Bairi on Monday said that a special team, comprising of six members, has been constituted to find the source of Corona infection in Dakshina Kannada .

The team is expected to file its report by May 6. It is still not clear if Bantwal was the source was the infection or not.

He said 1st phase of investigation in this regard is complete and the samples taken on the 12th day will give a clear picture.