Sister of toddler mauled by dogs recalls her vain attempt to rescue him

HYDERABAD: Eight-year-old Muthyam Meghana tried hard to rescue her brother Pradeep from stray dogs that attacked and killed him, but in vain. As the dogs charged on her, she withdrew her attempt and ran to her father Gangadhar for help.

Gangadhar never took his children to his workplace, but on the fateful day, he took them along with him. He made Meghana sit in a cabin at the entrance of the service centre and she started doing her homework and made Pradeep play for some time. “ As he was alone, I made him play for a while, sent him in and continued with my work,” Gangadhar told Deccan Chronicle over phone.

Minutes later Gangadhar heard Meghana screaming for help and rushing to him. Alerted by her, he rushed to Pradeep’s help, but it was already late and the dogs had badly injured the child. He drove away the dogs and rushed the child to a private hospital, where he was declared dead.

Meghana, studying class 4 told her father that she saw the dogs attacking her brother and ran to help him, but one of the dogs charged towards her and she could do nothing.

“I was doing my homework and saw the dogs attacking my brother. They were very scary,” Meghana recollected as she detailed the incident to her parents, even as she is yet to come out of the shock of losing her brother.

Pradeep’s mother Janapriya who is yet to come to terms with her son’s death said that she still feels that he is in front of her eyes playing. “ After bidding him goodbye on Sunday morning as he left home with his father, I saw his ripped body and dripping blood only in the hospital,” she said.

Meanwhile, relatives who came to console the family in Indalwai demanded justice for the family and to ensure strict action to control the stray dog menace.