A medical student accused of fatally drugging his puppy has reported to Bangkok police to acknowledge a fraud charge related to his attempt to collect compensation from a pet transport firm after the animal died.
Phattarapong Songsapkul, 24, met with officers at the Sutthisan police station in Bangkok on Friday evening, local media reported. He has been accused of poisoning a seven-month-old Pomeranian to cause its death during its transport by a firm from Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima early this month.
It was reported that the medical student denied the fraud charge and said he had given Vitamin C to the dog to reduce its blood pressure. He refused to speak to reporters at the police station when he left.
Mr Phattarapong faces a separate charge of animal cruelty laid in Nakhon Ratchasima, which he acknowledged last week at the Pho Klang police station there.
The student was summoned after a forensic examination confirmed several tablets found in the Pomeranian's stomach were medicine to reduce human blood pressure. They are believed to have caused the dog's death.
Mr Phattarapong hired a pet delivery company to transport his pet from Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima, his home province. But after arriving at an animal hospital there, the dog was pronounced dead.
He demanded that the firm honour a 50,000-baht insurance policy but it refused and asked a veterinarian at the pet hospital to conduct an autopsy.
Mahidol University suspended Mr Phattarapong, a sixth-year medical student, when news of the poisoning first emerged.
