Blind teacher drinks repellent instead of cough syrup, dies

CHENNAI: A blind English teacher died on Saturday after he consumed insect repellent instead of cough syrup at his house in Uthukottai.
A graduate in English literature, Ramraj, 31, of Thiruvottiyur, and worked as a teacher at the Government Boys Senior Secondary School in Uthukottai, police said. He stayed at a rented house on Nehru Bazaar Street in Uthukottai.

“Ramraj was ill and had purchased a cough syrup bottle and put it on a table near his bed. His maid, while cleaning his house, left a cockroach repellent right next to it and Ramraj drank it instead,” a police officer said. Ramraj was found unconscious by his friend and fellow teacher Saravanan and taken to government hospital in Uthukottai, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.