In a tragic misshap which looked like the replication of what happened in Kumarghat town of north Tripura last year, five Hindu devotees died by electrocution while twenty other sustained serious injuries during the ‘Rathayatra’ procession yesterday in the northern district town of Bagura in Bangladesh. Reports from across the border said that the Hindu ‘Rathayatra’ had been organised by the ISCON ‘Ashram’ in the town from the Seujbari area . But when the well decorated ‘Rath’ (chariot) had reached the Seujbari Amtoli square the mast of the ‘Rath’ (chariot) touched the high-voltage electric transmission line overhead . 

The entire ‘Rath’ being charged with high-power electricity passengers on it and people close to it also got charged and , as a result , five devotees including women died on the spot while twenty others sustained serious burn injuries. Four of the five dead were identified as Naresh Mohanta (65), Alok Sarkar (40), Atoshi Rani (40) and Ranjita Mohanta (60). The identity of the fifth dead person could not be ascertained. The additional SP (Bagura) M. Singhdha Akhtar confirmed the death toll and said that the dead bodies had  been kept in the Md Ziaur Rahaman hospital and the injured persons were being treated there . He added that the condition of some of the injured persons was critical. 

Sources said that the local administration in Bagura had not imposed any restriction on the height of the ‘Rath’ (chariot) to be taken through the town and the organizers also had not thought of the height that might come in contact with with high-voltage electric wire. Had the ‘Rath’ been shorter in height the mishap and so many deaths could have been avoided, sources added.