NAGAPATTINAM: A 30-year-old man was crushed to death when the temple car (sapparam), whose movement he was trying to regulate during a festival procession, ran over him in the wee hours of Saturday. This comes hardly three days after the Thanjavur temple car incident that claimed 11 lives.
The deceased, P Deepanraj, was reportedly laying ‘stop blocks’ in front of the temple car wheel, which was taken out in a procession as part of the Chithirai festival at Uthirapasupatheeswarar temple in Tiruchenkattankudi, when the incident occurred.
According to sources, hundreds of devotees were involved in carrying the temple deities around the locality in a car procession. The car procession, planned for about three hours, had over a dozen people, including Deepanraj, take up the role of laying ‘stop blocks’ in front of the car wheels to prevent it from swerving.
As the devotees were manoeuvring the temple car at a street corner some half an hour later, Deepanraj tried to correct its course by placing a ‘stop block’. He, however, fumbled in the act and came in the way of the car wheel, which ran over him.
Meanwhile, CM MK Stalin announced a solatium of `5 lakh from the chief minister’s public relief fund. Environment Minister Siva V Meyyanathan handed over the cheque to Deeparajan’s family.