Malkangiri: A man lost his life while another was injured during Charak Puja in Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Tuesday.
According to sources, the incidents occurred amid ongoing rituals by members of the Bengali community to mark the end of the Chaitra month, a folk festival dedicated primarily to Lord Shiva when devotees often perform daring acts of penance and devotion, including climbing tall palm trees, swinging from branches, or executing stunts as offerings.
In the first incident at MV-72 village, 35-year-old Jagadish Sana slipped and fell after a branch on which he was hanging snapped while descending a date palm tree as part of the ritual. He succumbed en route to the Community Health Centre (CHC) at Kalimela.
A similar mishap took place at MV-80 village in the same tehsil, where Mihir Mandal was injured while participating in the tree-climbing ritual. Fellow devotees rescued him and admitted him to the Kalimela CHC, where his condition is reported as stable.
The mishaps have cast a pall of gloom over the ongoing festivities.
