Child dies of dehydration, heatstroke in Chhattisgarh

A three-year-old child died of dehydration and heatstroke while his brother fell ill after they got separated from their father in the jungle in Chhattisgarh's tribal-dominated Surguja district.
The body of Shiv Kumar Manjhi was found yesterday in forests under Sitapur police station, Surguja Collector Ritu Sen told PTI today.
A native of village Naramadapur near Mainpat, Mangat Ram Manjhi along with his three sons - Shiv Kumar, Shankar Ram (5) and Rajaram (9) had gone to Sitapur on Wednesday to visit a relative.
Next day in the afternoon they were heading towards a nearby village on foot to visit another relative via forests during which the children got separated from their father, she said.

The incident came to light yesterday, when some locals informed about the body of a child abandoned in forest following which police were rushed to the spot, the collector said.
Later police took stock of the incident and informed the relatives after the identification of the body, she added.

Meanwhile, another child Shankar Ram who was taken ill due to dehydration, was also traced in the forests and admitted to a local hospital, she said, adding that his condition is stated to be normal.
Preliminary probe revealed that Mangat Ram was not mentally sound due to which he failed to manage the children during their journey, she added.

Rajaram himself traced his father and subsequently the duo reached back to their place, the collector said.
According to Sen, the postmortem report has confirmed that the child died due to exposure to sun and dehydration.
She ruled out death due to starvation.
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress has constituted a probe committee alleging that the victim died of starvation.
"We have formed a five-member committee led by former minister Premsai Singh to probe the incident following the information that the child had died of starvation," state Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel said.
The committee will visit the victim's village and will take the stock of incident, Baghel said.