CHENNAI: A 23-year-old man was charred to death and four others sustained injuries after a temple chariot that came in contact with a high-tension overhead cable caught fire at Orathy near Acharapakkam in Chengalpattu on Monday night.
The deceased has been identified as Ramkumar. The police said he was sitting inside the wagon when it was being taken out through the streets. Adikesavan, Siva, Kuppan and Janakiraman managed to jump out just in time and escape with injuries. They are undergoing treatment at a hospital and are out of danger.
A police source said that though the chariot procession is taken out every year, this time around, the organisers took the chariot on a different route, that too, without the permission of the police.
“As the procession was moving along, the top portion of the chariot touched the high-tension cable, causing the fire. It quickly spread to the entire chariot,” the source said.
Rajkumar’s body was recovered from the chariot that was completely gutted and sent to a government hospital for postmortem.