Ghaziabad: A Chinese manjha slit the throat of a 25-year-old delivery agent riding a bike at more than 80kmph on Delhi-Meerut Expressway on Saturday, killing him before he could be wheeled into a hospital.The string caught Raviraj’s neck near UP Gate, tightened as the bike sped forward and cut deep into his throat. His friend, riding pillion, managed to bring the wobbling bike to a halt, but the bleeding was already fatal.A Noida resident, Raviraj was travelling towards Ghazipur in Delhi with his friend Naresh around 2pm when the kite string suddenly struck his neck near Media House. As the string cut through his throat, Raviraj lost control of the bike. Naresh grabbed the handle from behind and pulled over.Passersby rushed a bleeding Raviraj to Max Hospital in Vaishali, but doctors declared him dead on arrival.The death renewed concerns over the illegal sale of Chinese manjha, a synthetic kite string that is stronger and sharper than ordinary cotton thread. On a high-speed expressway like DME, where vehicles routinely travel above 80kmph, such a string can turn into a near-invisible blade for bikers.ACP Indirapuram Suryabali Maurya said police received a Dial 112 call about an injured biker lying on the expressway.“The bike was being driven by Raviraj himself, and Naresh was seated pillion. When they reached Media House near UP Gate, a kite string struck Raviraj’s neck. The manjha kept cutting his neck. As the bike was at high speed, it wobbled. Naresh grabbed the handle, controlled it and pulled over. But by then, Raviraj’s neck had already been cut,” he added.The sale and use of Chinese manjha, usually made from nylon or other plastic material and often coated with glass or sharp substances, is banned under court and govt orders. NGT has also asked states to enforce a prohibition on synthetic manjha nationwide.Yet, the trade continues. In the past three weeks, police in Ghaziabad arrested six persons for selling it, most of whom allegedly sourced it from Delhi. On July 29, three persons were arrested with 522 rolls from a house in Indira market in Loni. On Aug 12, another raid led to three arrests and recovery of 167 rolls.DCP Dhawal Jaiswal said police were checking kite shops across the district and areas around DME to find out if manjhas are being sold. In Feb, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said deaths caused by banned Chinese kite strings should be treated as murder.The danger is not new. In Nov 2022, CBI officer Gaurav Arora suffered a deep neck cut from a Chinese manjha while riding a bike in Vijay Nagar. Although the string severed his jugular vein, he survived the injury after receiving about 50 stitches.
