Girl, who ran barefoot in race, consumes poison

Our Correspondent

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UNA, DECEMBER 2

Baksho Devi, an Una school girl who won laurels by winning the 5,000-metre race on December 22, 2015, at the district school games, organised at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex, was referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, last night. She consumed some poisonous substance.

The girl, now 17 and student of Class XI in Government Senior Secondary School at Saloh village in Haroli, was admitted to the Una district hospital late last evening with complaints of nausea.

Baksho Devi was referred to the PGI. She is yet not fit to record a statement, said police sources. She had made headlines immediately after the race in which she ran barefoot in the extreme cold conditions to win the race.

Baksho had developed a pain in the last few seconds of the race, which was later diagnosed due to a stone in her gall bladder. The local media had reported that Baksho’s family was living in a thatched hut with mud walls and that the family could not afford her a pair of shoes for the race, prompting financial assistance to the family from philanthropists.

The athlete had reportedly been fighting health and family issues for the last two years. The police are investigating whether Baksho had consumed some poisonous substance by mistake.