Dindigul mishap: Father and son killed as their heads get stuck inside steel cot headboard

MADURAI: In a bizarre tragedy, a 38-year-old tailor and his son lost their life after their necks were caught between the sleeping board and the steel frame of a cot on which they were sleeping in their house in Sanarpatti, Dindigul on Monday.

According to police, R Gobi Kannan (38), a tailor, and his son Karthikeyan (7) were asleep in an upstairs room in their house at Sanarpatti.

Suddenly, the sleeping board crashed towards the ground as the bolts on the side in which they had placed their heads were not properly fastened.

Before the duo could realise and rise from the cot, both their necks got caught between the cot frame and the sleeping board and were crushed to death.

As the father-son did not come down till 8 am, Kannan’s mother-in-law, who was staying on the ground floor went to their room to check their condition. Upon entering the room, she was shocked to find both lying motionless stuck between the cot frame and the sleeping board.

On the fateful night, Yogeshwari, the wife of Gobi Kannan, who is a nurse, had gone to the hospital for duty. On information, she rushed home, checked them and confirmed that both were dead.

Based on a complaint lodged by Yogeshwari, Sanarpatti police have filed a case of unnatural death. Going by the injuries on their necks, police suspect that the board must have crushed the duo against the cot frame causing their deaths.

Dindigul Superintendent of Police A Pradeep, when contacted, said the deaths were bizarre. It’s unfortunate that both the heads of the victims got stuck inside the headboard of the cot. The SP added that the preliminary report of the post-mortem indicates no suspicion and the deaths were accidental.

Sources said usually a steel cot would have eight bolts fastened to headboards, but in this case, there were only four bolts in the cot.