Raipur:
A three-day “miracle” drama in Chhattisgarh’s industrial town
of Raigarh ended on Monday afternoon after a Hindu priest, who had committed
suicide promising to return to life within 72 hours of his death, was
cremated.
Hundreds
of people had laid siege around the body of 25-year-old Manoj Baghel,
who ended his life on Saturday by consuming poison at a temple in Raigarh,
about 200 km northeast of state capital, Raipur. Baghel had claimed
that he would come back to life.
”The
miracle drama is now over as the people, who had surrounded the body
of the dead priest to witness the rebirth, handed over the corpse to
the police for post-mortem on Monday afternoon,” Superintendent of
Police in Raigarh, J K Thorate said.
The people
had surrounded the temple where the body was kept in a locked room and
were refusing to hand it over to the police, expecting the priest to
come back to life by late Monday evening.
”They
lost all hope of rebirth of the priest,” the police officer said.
The police have registered a case of suicide.
Thorate
said after post-mortem, the body was handed over to the priest’s father,
Ram Prasad Baghel, a farmer, who cremated his only son.
The young
priest was rushed to a district hospital after he consumed poison. He
was then referred to a private hospital where he died. Baghel’s relatives
later brought his body back to the temple, where a huge crowd had gathered
to witness the “rebirth miracle”.
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