Hundreds of devotees were milling around it in its circuitous journey when tragedy struck even as the chariot reached only half distance.
“I was following the chariot when its journey was interrupted by a big thud. Suddenly, everyone panicked. Scores of women were pushing the cart and the tragedy affected them the most as they were trapped with nowhere to go,” an eyewitness who refused to be identified, told Deccan Herald.
The locality, inhabited mostly by poor and lower middle class people, wore a dejected look.
At the temple, the mood was rather pensive as the rituals were being performed.
An announcement for monetary help and prayers for the dead and the injured was aired from the loudspeaker. A mosque located next to the temple appealed to Muslims to donate for the victims.
Residents of Rajendra Nagar 1st Cross were rather agitated. Anjali, a flower merchant from Koramangala, said, “The locality has several multi-storeyed residential buildings but the wire was hanging very low. None cares to set it right.”
Bhagyamma, mother of Pratap, who was killed, wept inconsolably in the tenement, located near the spot of the tragedy.
The locality, which otherwise would have sported a festive look, was gloomed in grief with people inquiring about the incident. The chariot’s wooden wheels were coated with iron strips. The victims had probably lain hands on the wheels when electric current passed through them and annihilated them in no time.
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