Patna, Oct 12 (IANS): A five-year-old boy lost his life after his parents went to an exorcist for treatment of scorpion bite in Bihar's Nalanda district on Wednesday.

The deceased has been identified as Sumit Kumar, son of Karu Mistri from Chanduar villageunder the Rahui block in the district.

Kumar, while playing outside his house, became a victim of scorpion bites on Tuesday evening. His family members took him to an exorcist for treatment at around 3 a.m. on Wednesday.

“We took him to an exorcist for treatment. He said that Sumit is fine and will recover soon. After we returned home, he again had high fever. Then we went to the chemist s'shop and gave him medicines.

"His fever came down for a few hours and then went up again. We eventually went to the primary health centre where the doctors referred him to the Sadar hospital in Bihar Sharif, where my grandson died during treatment,” said Rinku Devi, the grandmother of the deceased.

The doctors at the Sadar hospital claimed that had the victim brought to the hospital soon after the scorpion bite, chances of saving his life would have been much higher.