Three employees of bakery that supplied birthday cake held after Patiala girl’s death

Police on Sunday arrested three bakery employees while raids are still underway to nab the owner in connection with the death of a 10-year-old girl.
The child had died and family members were taken ill allegedly after eating a cake that was ordered online from the bakery, “Cake Kanha”. Patiala Police, meanwhile, is learnt to have already sealed the shop until the investigation is underway.
The accused have been identified as Vijay Kumar, Pawan Kumar and Ranjit. The owner of the bakery, Gurpreet Singh, is still at large.
It was on Thursday that Patiala Police had registered a first information report (FIR) against the bakery under sections 273 (whoever sells, or offers or exposes for sale, as food or drink, any article which has been rendered or has become noxious) and 304-A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code on the complaint of the deceased’s mother.
Sub-inspector Pavitar Singh Toor, who is investigating the case, said the local court had sent all the three arrested on a two-day police remand.
The inspector added that the owner and staff of a popular bakery, “India Bakery”, were allegedly running the “Cake Kanha” from where the cake in question was ordered.
According to the information, “India Bakery”, had listed a new restaurant in the name of “Cake Kanha” but cakes were being prepared and delivered by the “India Bakery” itself. Notably, Gurpreet Singh, owner of “India Bakery”, on Saturday, had claimed that he was not the proprietor of “Cake Kanha”, but the police investigation showed otherwise.
According to the FIR, the incident took place on March 24 when the family had ordered a cake via a food delivery app for the 10-year-old’s birthday. Within a few hours of eating the cake, all attendees fell sick while the girl began vomiting profusely. She slept after a while, but was found unconscious during the wee hours of March 25. Family members rushed her to the hospital where she was declared dead on arrival.
Health dept collects samples
Patiala health department’s food wing had earlier refused to take note of the case, but collected four samples from the “India Bakery” on Sunday.
Food safety officer (FSO) Jaswinder Singh told HT that of the four samples, three were from cakes and one from a pastry. Singh confirmed that they had taken the sample from “India Bakery” only because “Cake Kanha” was being run by the former’s owner.
“We will try to get the results of the food samples from the state lab at the earliest. Based on the report, we will take appropriate action,” the FSO added.