Health minister orders inquiry as Patiala girl dies after eating cake

“I am very upset about the innocent girl’s death and that too on her birthday. Children are precious. Any family losing them is heartbreaking. That is why I have ordered the department to carry out a detailed probe into the incident and submit the report to me as soon as possible,” said the health minister.

He added, “The food safety lab will check any kind of poison in the cake. Also, it is being checked by the forensic lab. The family had given the remaining cake to the authorities. I have spoken to the family. We will get everything tested.”

He said that prima facie it did not appear to be a case of food poisoning. “How is it possible that only one child died after eating the cake? After all, many other people also had it. I am told some had vomiting. But it cannot be that the spoiled cake only killed one and the rest did not even need hospitalisation,” the minister said, adding that “rest, it is a matter of investigation. Both the food safety and forensic reports would be collated to reach a conclusion. But there are many questions. They need to be answered. We will know whether it was the cake or something else.”

Whether it was the bakery that was responsible or the delivery partner or someone else, the truth will out, he said.

The incident happened when Manvi, a Class V student, celebrated her birthday on March 24 in Patiala. Her family ordered the cake through an online food delivery app and they cut the cake around 7 pm, after which she went to sleep. A video of the family celebrating Manvi’s birthday had gone viral after her death.

Manvi’s family told the police that after going to sleep, Manvi asked for water early in the morning and went back to sleep. They said when they later checked on her, she was unconscious. She was taken to a hospital and the doctors declared her dead.

Manvi’s family alleged that five other members of the family who ate the cake also fell ill. The family had said they took the cake to the health department to ascertain the cause of her death but the health officials turned them away.

The Patiala police had identified four persons and apprehended three of them in connection with the case.

The four were Gurmeet Singh from Green View Colony, Ranjeet, Pawan Mishra, and Vijay Kumar. The police have already filed a case under Section 304 of IPC against them. The police have also filed an FIR against Kanha Bakery which supplied the cake. Gurmeet Singh, the owner of Kanha Bakery, remains at large.