Alappuzha: Controversial naturopath Mohanan ‘vaidyar’ is under the police scanner over the death of an 18-month-old child.
Assistant inspector general T. F. Xavier has ordered an investigation based on a complaint of Wayanad native Sreejith Perumana.
Mr Xavier told DC that he forwarded the complaint to Alappuzha district police chief K. M. Tomy.
It is understood that health minister K.K. Shailaja has also written to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for a police investigation.
It was on August 23 that the kid died at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thrissur, after being diagnosed with propionic acidemia.
Following this, a doctor who treated him put out a post on Facebook, attributing five months of the vaidyar's treatment to the death.
The complainant wanted him and the parents of the kid booked for murder, citing a Supreme Court verdict against fake naturopaths.
He accused him of propagating quackery and superstitions on social media. "I acted in the public interest," Mr Perumana told DC. "The doctor who treated the child has made an official note in the medical records on Vaidyar's treatment. So police should seal his clinics and properties."
A campaign was raging on social media demanding action against the vaidyar who has no medical qualifications but treats patients with chronic ailments.
Last year, he made a statement questioning the existence of the Nipah virus, which he withdrew after the state government initiated action against him.
Though DC tried to contact him on both landline and mobile phone multiple times, he was unavailable.
