A nine-year-old girl died of suffocation when a dupatta tied to a window grille tightened around her neck at her home in Bilekahalli, off Bannerghatta Road, on Thursday.

 The child was so choked she could not even scream or call her grandfather, who was in the verandah, for help. 

Sheethal, a class 3 student at AECS School, had eaten lunch and was playing with the dupatta tied to the window grille. The dupatta got tangled around her neck and tightened. She began to suffocate but could not even scream as her throat was choked, the police said.  The girl’s grandfather was sitting in the verandah. After some time, he realised Sheethal was quiet, so he went to check on her. She was lying motionless and the dupatta was tied around her neck. He panicked and took her to a hospital but doctors there said she had died. 

Her parents, Nagaraj and Geetha, told the police that she used to play with the dupatta every day. Sheethal was the only daughter of her parents. While Nagaraj is a manager at a private hospital, Geetha is a member of the non-teaching staff at the AECS School. 

On the fateful day, Sheethal had gone to school with her mother and returned home in the afternoon. The Mico Layout police have registered a case of unnatural death.