Chandigarh:

The family of a 10-year-old girl in Punjab province who died after eating a cake ordered online claim the health department did nothing to help them. Her family said the first information report (FIR) was also filed five days after her death.

The girl celebrated her birthday on March 24 and died hours later after her family went to bed. Her family said she had vomited cake and had difficulty breathing before she died. Everyone else in the family who ate the cake also got sick.

Local media reported the incident, which did not attract national attention until Saturday.

Her grandfather Harbhanj Lal told New Delhi TV the lack of vigilance on the part of the health department was disturbing.

Mr Lal told New Delhi TV: “The health department official refused to take samples of the cakes we ordered. The official insisted that they would only take samples from the shop where the cakes were baked.”

The family said the name of the bakery on the bill was different from the name of the actual store, suggesting it might be an unreliable cloud kitchen, a concept increasingly popular for its flexible, lightweight nature of operations.

Freestanding kitchens typically prepare food in one room, accept online delivery orders, and package food from one large location.

“We are also monitoring the cloud kitchen concept as Zomato’s bakery names keep changing,” Patiala police chief Sarfaraz Alam said.

A health official said the girl’s family visited him on Thursday. “I told them to lodge a formal complaint with the police and health department. The food team was directed to go to the house and collect cake samples,” the official said, according to news agency PTI.

In a video of the birthday celebration, just hours before her death, the girl Manvi was seen cutting a cake and celebrating with her family.

The family claimed that the chocolate cake ordered from ‘Cake Kanha’ contained some poisonous substance.