Tamil Nadu: 5 people drown during temple rituals in Chennai; CM Stalin announces ex-gratia

Temple priests who were conducting Puja this morning as part of particular rituals in a pond next to the Dharmalingeshwarar temple in Chennai's Nanganallur were faced with a shocking situation when, tragically, five individuals aged between 18 and 23 drowned. According to preliminary police investigations, four others who attempted to save the first individual also drowned in the attempt. The commissioner of Chennai City claimed that one person had slipped and fell during some rites, and thereafter, other people had also drowned. There is currently an active search to determine if any further drownings have occurred.

The incident happened around 10:00 to 10:15 am when devotees of the Dharmalingeshwarar temple gathered at the pond for rituals as part of the panguni celebrations. The temple is a few hundred metres away from the pond and the temple uses this pond for general purposes. This morning, the deity was brought for a bath to the pond by around 35-40 people. Some of them were priests and the rest of them were volunteers who were aiding the priests to conduct the ritual. 

The five bodies were recovered and sent to a nearby hospital for post-mortem. The fire and rescue crew arrived at the scene and began to fish out the bodies, and the neighbourhood police were also notified. The bodies were then taken to the Chromepet Government Hospital. Other officials and Chennai Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal also went to the site.

Both Chengalpattu district collector A R Rahul Nadh and Tamil Nadu Cabinet Minister Tha Mo Anbarasan arrived at the hospital where the bodies were sent for post-mortem.

Chief Minister MK Stalin sent his condolences to the aggrieved families. Additionally, he declared that the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund would provide a solatium of Rs. 2 lakh each to kins of the deceased.