A 39-year-old moped-rider bled to death after being entangled by a manja, the banned glass-coated thread used to fly kites, in Mancherial town on Saturday, engulfing his poor family in grief on Sankranti festival day.
The deceased was identified as Bheemaiah, a labourer of old Mancherial. The shocking incident occurred when he was returning home from Mancherial town on his moped along with his wife Sharada on Saturday evening.
Bheemaiah lost control over the moped when a dangling manja suddenly entangled his neck, and he fell off the two-wheeler near the bridge at old Mancherial. He suffered a deep cut on his throat and bled to death on the roadside even before passersby rushed to his help on hearing the screams of a shell-shocked Sharada, sources said.
The ghastly incident exposed the unabated sale of manja, by the errant vendors flouting the ban with impunity, endangering the lives of human beings and birds.
Police sources said the kite flyers responsible for using the banned manja and leaving it dangling on the roadside perilously were yet to be identified.
The Mancherial town police registered a case against “unknown persons” and are investigating.