When police inspector Vanraj Manjaria—an animal lover who even preserved the ashes of his pets—died recently, it was a dog that was behind his death from rabies . For Manjaria, death came from the scratch of not a street dog, but a pet dog of a family friend he met at a farmhouse he visited earlier this month. His death has sparked several questions about dogs and rabies. But the key question—can just scratch, not bite, cause rabies? And if yes, how does the virus reach the canine's paw?

Manjaria suddenly fell sick on September 15, but by the time he was admitted to hospital in Ahmedabad, it was too late. Doctors told his family he had contracted rabies—a virus with no cure and certain death.

None of Manjaria's relatives knew of any bite, and he himself had never mentioned one. Only

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