GADAG: Two died after they came under a chariot at Ron town's Veerabhadreshwar annual fair on Saturday evening.
The deceased has been identified as Mallappa Linganagoudrar (55) from Ron town. The identity of the other person is yet to be known as his face was crushed after he fell in front of the wheel.
The annual chariot function came to standstill after the incident and police struggled to control the people.
When the chariot Utsav began on Saturday evening, devotees started throwing dried dates and bananas on the chariot. The dried dates and bananas that fall after throwing at the chariot are considered as prasada, hence some people will be there at the front side of the chariot to collect them.
On Saturday evening many people started collecting prasadam, Due to heavy rush, three persons fell in front of the wheel. Devotees at the spot dragged a person from under the wheel but two others came under the chariot and died on the spot.
Police sources said that one of the deceased had a black thread on right hand and on his left hand there are some English letters tattooed RKPWMBA G LOVE V.
Police sent the bodies for post mortem and a case has been registered at Ron Police station.
Some devotees who were present during the incident said, “This is the first time we have seen such an incident in this annual fair. Every time we have come forward to collect dried dates and bananas and nobody gets hurt. This time some devotees pushed a griou and three fell on the chariot way and one luckily escaped but two died.”