In an incident reflecting prevalence of superstition in society, a sadhu set himself on fire at a temple in Meerut district allegedly after he failed to have darshan of goddess Kali.
The sadhu, identified as Madan Anand Jogi, a resident of the neighbouring state Uttarakhand, had been undertaking meditation at a temple in Kurali village in the district for the past five days.
According to villagers, he had told his disciples that he would kill himself if goddess Kali did not give him darshan. Jogi had been at the temple for the past two years and the villagers used to respect him a lot.
“We tried to dissuade him from going on meditation but he did not relent,” said village pradhan Dushyant Singh. He said he had never imagined that the sage would actually do any such thing.
Jogi, however, had other ideas. When the goddess did not give him darshan after he meditated for five days at a stretch, he decided to do what he had announced and committed self-immolation.
Some of the village boys, who had been out on morning run, saw flames emanating from the temple on Monday. They rushed to the temple where they found Jogi on fire to their shock.
According to villagers, the youths managed to put out the fire, but by then Jogi had been charred to death. The villagers refused to hand over his body to police. “We have decided to make a samadhi (memorial) of the sage at the spot where he died,” Dushyant said.
Police have also confirmed that sage had set himself ablaze.