A 13-year old girl, Sanaka Pal, died on Thursday as a consequence of being treated by a quack at Subhasgram, in Sonarpur, on the southern fringes of the city. Prabir Bose, the quack, was later arrested.

The girl, a student of Class VIII in a local school, was a resident of Ashram Para. On Tuesday, she returned home from school with fever. Her father, Rabi Pal, took her to Prabir Bose, who posed as a bona fide doctor and had been treating local people for years.

But Sanaka?s condition began to deteriorate, and from Wednesday, she began to vomit blood in addition to running a high temperature. At this, her parents were perturbed and they requested the doctor to diagnose the case properly and prescribe fresh medicines, if necessary.

Bose then checked the girl once again and prescribed more medicines, but at this, she began to throw up even more blood. By the morning, she started sinking, when her parents and family members were totally at a loss. They immediately rushed to the doctor to tell her about the girl?s condition.

?The doctor then directed us to take Sanaka to a local hospital. Without delay, we did so. But she died within a few moments after our arrival at the hospital,? Santosh Sarkar, a neighbour, said.

When they asked the attending doctor of the hospital to issue a death certificate, he told them to get in touch with their neighbourhood doctor who had treated the girl. The Pals demanded a death certificate from Prabir Bose. But he pleaded his inability to issue a death certificate.

?When he made this admission, we were taken aback, for we had always known him to be a bona fide doctor whose chamber we used to visit regularly for treatment. But he told us that he was a doctor practising alternative medicine and he could not issue a certificate,? Sarkar said.

Then, Pal and his neighbours went to Sonarpur police station and lodged a diary against Bose. ?We had been getting complaints against Prabir Bose for a long time but we could not arrest him as there was no specific complaint. After his arrest, he tried to establish that he never cheated anybody, for he always said he was a practitioner of alternative medicine,? police said.

Body found: The body of an unidentified 40-year-old man was found on Panchla-Bauria Road, in Howrah, on Thursday. Police said he had been knocked down by a heavy vehicle.