TIRUVANNAMALAI: Four devotees, including a software engineer and a private college professor, drowned in Ayyan Kulam opposite the Sri Annamalaiyar Temple while taking part in Mahodaya Punyakala Theerthavaari during the early hours of Monday.
The deceased were identified as R Punniyakotti (55), S Venkataraman (42) and S Manikandan (41), a lecturer of a private engineering college of Tiruvannamalai and S Siva (30), a native of Kallakurchi and a software engineer from Chennai.
Following the incident, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment authorities removed R Senthilvelan from the post of Joint Commissioner of the temple and placed him on the waiting list. The department has also ordered an inquiry into the incident.
Hundreds of devotees had gathered in and around the tank to take part in the Mahodaya Punyakala Theerthavaari that occurs once in 26 years. The devotees were allowed into the tank to take a dip through the Western gate, while the three other gates were sealed.
The ill-fated incident occurred at about 6.15 am when a group of 50 to 70 devotees and priests, who were taking out the Trisulam (believed to be the Lord Annamalaiyar and Goddess Unnamalai Amman) on a procession to the tank for Theerthavaari. “About 20 to 35 persons, who were leading the procession, went a little deeper into the tank and were standing in chest-deep water. They lost their balance and slipped into the tank,” said an eye-witness.
Several swam to their safety while the four drowned. The volunteers pulled one of the victims - Punniyakotti (52) of Tiruvnnamalai from the water - and attempted to revive him but were unsuccessful. “The absence of a medical team at hand proved costly for Puniyakotti. Many were shocked over the death of Punniyakotti. Only after 10 to 20 minutes, a few of the persons noticed that Manikandan was missing,” said district president of Hindu Munnani, Shankarr.
They searched for Manikandan and fished out his friends Siva and Venkataraman at about 8.30 am. Fire service personnel launched a search for Manikandan and recovered his body at about 9 am.
“Lack of safety measures claimed the lives of the four,” charged Shankarr and added that the JC of the temple failed to coordinate with the government authorities to ensure the safety of the devotees. He demanded action against the JC of the temple.Police sources said that the temple administration neither informed the district administration nor the police about the programme.
A case was registered under Section 174 of CrPC. And the bodies of four were handed over to their family members.