Cough syrup-linked deaths: Toll rises to 22 as two more children succumb
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Chhindwara (MP), Oct 9 (PTI) Two more children from Madhya Pradesh have succumbed to kidney infections caused by the consumption of a "contaminated" cough syrup, taking the death toll to 22, an official said on Thursday.
Five-year-old Vishal died on Wednesday evening and Mayank Suryavanshi, aged 4, succumbed late at night while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Nagpur in neighbouring Maharashtra, Chhindwara's Additional Collector Dhirendra Singh Netri said.
The two children hailed from Parasia town in Chhindwara, he said. The death toll has now gone up to 22, the official said.
These children from Chhindwara died due to suspected kidney failure, which is linked to the consumption of 'toxic' Coldrif cough syrup, as per officials.
Some other children from MP were undergoing treatment in Nagpur, they said.
The Madhya Pradesh Police have formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the deaths and filed a case against the Tamil Nadu-based manufacturer of Coldrif.
The SIT on Thursday arrested Tamil Nadu-based Sresan Pharma owner Ranganathan Govindan from Chennai in connection with the adulterated cough syrup case, Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Parasia, Jitendra Singh Jaat told PTI.
The police have also sealed the drug factory, he said.
The accused will be produced in a Chennai court for obtaining his transit remand and will be brought to Parasia by Friday, he added.
The MP government earlier this week suspended two drug inspectors and a deputy director of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and transferred the state's drug controller amid an investigation into the children's deaths.
Chhindwara-based Dr Praveen Soni has been arrested for alleged negligence.
A local court in Parasia town on Wednesday rejected the bail application of Soni.
The Indian Medical Association has threatened to go on an indefinite strike in the district against Dr Soni's arrest on Thursday.
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Mere breakup not enough for abetment to suicide: Delhi HC
New Delhi (PTI): Merely breaking up may not amount to instigation for a case of abetment of suicide under the criminal law, the Delhi High Court has said.
Justice Manoj Jain made the observation while dealing with a bail plea by a man accused of abetting the suicide of his former partner, who hanged herself five days after his marriage to another woman.
Granting bail to the accused, the court observed that the instigation should be of such a nature that leaves the deceased with no option but to commit suicide.
It said only a trial would establish whether the deceased's "extreme step" was on account of provocation, instigation, "merely on account of her being hyper-sensitive girl" or for some other reason.
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In the present case, the court noted, there was no dying declaration, and the parties were in a relationship for around eight years, during which there was no complaint from the deceased.
The court observed there was a considerable time gap between the date when the parties stopped talking and the date of the suicide.
"Apparently, it seems to be a case of a broken relationship and quite possibly, the deceased, having come to know that the applicant has got married to someone else, has chosen to finish herself," the court said in the order passed on February 24.
"Though broken relationship and heartbreaks have become common these days, mere breaking-up of relationship may not per se constitute instigation so as to make it to be a case of abetment under Section 108 BNS (abetment of suicide)," the court order read.
According to the father of the deceased, his daughter had been trapped by the accused, who pressured her to convert to his religion for marriage, and it was under such pressure that his daughter committed suicide by hanging herself with a chunni in October 2025.
The accused was arrested in November 2025.
The court observed that, according to the woman's friends, she was upset, and they never claimed anything on conversion. The accused had stopped talking to her from February 2025 onwards, it said.
According to the order, the man was let out on bail on a personal bond and surety bond of Rs 25,000 each.
The accused submitted that the parties were in a cordial relationship for around eight years, but the woman's parents were against the relationship since they belonged to different religions.
He alleged that it was her parents who forced her to sever the relationship.
