wo persons were electrocuted and several others suffered injuries when arath yatra chariot came in contact with a high-tension 11,000-volt power line in the Sheikhpura district of Bihar on Monday.
Police said they were preparing to register an FIR. They said the electricity department and the organisers of the procession were responsible for the mishap.
The incident occurred at Rasalpur village under Sheikhpura police station, around 125km southeast of Patna.
Preparations were afoot for a nine-day yagna, a Hindu religious ritual in which oblations are offered in the sacred fire.
A rath yatra was taken out as a part of the preparatory rituals in which a horse-driven chariot led a procession of 501 girls carrying earthen tumblers on their heads.
A large number of people from the village and neighbouring areas also participated in it.
While the procession was doing a round of the village, the horses stopped at a place and refused to budge.
They were unhitched from the chariot and the devotees started pulling and pushing it instead.
“A high-tension electricity wire was hanging loose in one place. It seems that the people leading the procession and pulling the chariot failed to notice it.
“The chariot’s upper part came in contact with the wire and several people got electric shock and dropped to the ground,” Sheikhpurasub-divisional police officer Arvind Kumar Sinha told The Telegraph.
“Two persons died, while five others have been hospitalised in serious condition. Many others received minor injuries.
“The electricity supply line was hanging loose indicating the irresponsibility of the electricity department in its maintenance.
“The people in the procession and the organisers also failed to notice it,” Sinha added.
The deceased have been identified as Raju Kumar, 25, and Virendra Kumar, 30. Both were residents of Rasalpur village.
Videos of the mishap went viral on various social networking sites. They showed the people moving in the procession while chanting slogans and suddenly falling on the ground.