Cheruvathur (Kasaragod): The police have intensified their probe into the death of a school student due to food poisoning after she consumed ‘shawarma’ from an eatery here. As part of the investigation, police officers would be directing Muhammed, the owner of the eatery, to appear before them for questioning. However, Muhammed is currently in the Middle East.
The police have already arrested Sandesh Rai, a Nepali worker who prepared the shawarma, and Anas, who managed the ‘Ideal Food Point’ on the Cheruvathur bus stand premises, which sold the stale food.
Anas belongs to Ullal in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka bordering Kerala.
Van set on fire
Meanwhile, a vehicle belonging to the outlet was found gutted after the food poisoning incident was reported. It was parked adjacent to the eatery and the police have launched a probe into this incident also. As no clues have been obtained so far into the arson, the police are checking CCTV visuals from the area.
The victim of the food poisoning was E V Devananda, a 16-year-old Plus-Pne student of A V Memorial Government Higher Secondary School at Karivelloor. She was the only daughter of the late Chandroth Narayanan and E V Prasanna, residing near the Peralam public distribution shop at Karivelloor.
Devananda stayed at the house of a relative at Mattalyi in Pilicode to pursue her studies. Her father had passed away a few months ago.
On Friday, Devananda and some of her friends visited the Ideal Food Point for having shawarma. On Saturday morning, most of these students developed symptoms of food poisoning and were admitted to the Government Community Health Centre at Cheruvathur. However, by noon their condition worsened and the students were shifted to the District Hospital at Kanhangad. However, Devananda soon succumbed to food poisoning.
