Police have launched an investigation into a tragic incident wherein a father allegedly got his cancer-stricken son euthanized, unable to see the child in pain.

Periasamy, hailing from the town of Salem in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, allegedly hired a medical assistant who injected his 14-year-old son Vannathamil with a poisonous substance. The shocking incident happened Sunday evening, DT Next reported.

The incident came to light after neighbors raised suspicion over the sudden death of the child. Reports said the boy was diagnosed with cancer in his leg last year. The child was first taken to a hospital following a fall from his bike. However, further tests revealed he had a cancerous tumor in his leg.

Though Periasamy took his son to several hospitals for treatment, the child's condition began to deteriorate. Unable to bear the sight of his son wailing in pain, the man decided to euthanize his son, according to DT Next.

He reportedly approached a medical assistant from a nearby town of Edappadi and begged him to inject his son with poison. The medical assistant then came to Periasamy's house Sunday night and administered an injection to the child. He died soon after getting the shot, reported Dinamani (Google translation).

After the boy’s sudden death, the neighbors alerted police. Officers who arrived at the spot immediately moved the child's body to a nearby hospital for autopsy. The cause of death will be revealed after post mortem examination, the report said.

Meanwhile, Periasamy reportedly told police that he only asked the medical assistant to give the child a pain killer to alleviate his suffering. Officers were also questioning the medical assistant.

Passive euthanasia is legal in India under strict guidelines since 2018. Soon after the top court verdict came out in this regard, a man had approached a court seeking permission to resort to passive euthanasia for his 10-year-old boy.

The man informed the court that his son is in a vegetative state since his birth and suffers from epileptic seizures. The court then appointed a doctor for remedial therapy, following which the child began showing signs of progress.

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Representational image. Pixabay
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