BARIPADA: A hospital in Jaleswar town of Balasore district played out a bizarre scene on Thursday night when relatives of a deceased man used the services of a tantrik, that too a long-distance one, via mobile phone to bring him back to life.The black magic obviously failed and the man remained dead but the incident has once again brought to focus the grip of blind belief on people and society. Despite being declared dead by the doctors, the relatives went ahead and called on the black magic practitioner to attempt to resurrect him.
The man, Siddheswar Jena of Mahisamunda village, had been bitten by a poisonous snake and was rushed to GK Khattar hospital. But by the time he was taken to the hospital, it was already late. He was declared dead by the doctors yet the relatives did not believe them.They immediately rang up a Baripada-based tantrik and begged him to save the life of Siddheswar. The tantrik reportedly refused to come down due to the distance and it was already late in the night. However, he did offer to conduct his magic over phone. And, a peculiar scene was enacted in the hospital itself.
The relatives were seen holding the mobile phone close to the ear of the dead body for purported chant of magic and also conducting rituals as per his advice. One was even striking the corpse from head to toe with a leaf-laden branch of a neem tree.The drama continued for a while even as hospital staff, other patients and attendants watched in awe the entire happening. The doctors had tried to make the relatives see reason but in vain. Only when all the procedures failed did they relent and allowed the body to be shifted for post mortem.The police, who had been called by the hospital, took the body to Jaleswar hospital for post mortem. A case of unnatural death has been registered in this connection, police said.