CHENNAI: A four-year-old girl died after accidentally consuming her mother’s anti-depressant pills in their house in Selaiyur near Tambaram on Sunday night. On learning about her daughter’s death, the mother tried to die by suicide. The Selaiyur police have registered a case and are investigating.

The deceased was identified as M Harithra, who was living with her mother, M Ashwini, and her grandmother. Ashwini is a software professional in Siruseri and her husband, Mithun, is working in Gujarat.

Preliminary investigations revealed that on Sunday night, Ashwini had kept the bottle of anti-depressants on the bedside table. However, she was caught up with chores and went to sleep.

Around 4 am, Ashwini woke up to the cries of her daughter and saw that she was frothing at the mouth. Realising that Harithra had consumed the pills, she too took the remaining pills. Hearing them both scream, Ashwini’s mother rushed in, and took them both to a hospital with the help of neighbours.