Close on the heels of the death of two artistes who died while playing the character of Lord Hanuman and Ravan, another artiste died while playing the character of Lord Shiva in Ramlila in Machhlishahr town of Jaunpur.
The artiste, Ram Prasad aka Chabban Pandey, suffered a massive cardiac arrest on stage and died on Tuesday night. He had been playing the role of Lord Shiva for the past six years.
The Ramlila was stopped after Prasad's death.
The incident took place in Balesin village when 'aarti' was being performed. Ram Prasad clutched his chest and fell down. He was immediately rushed to a nearby medical facility where the doctors pronounced him dead.
It may be recalled that in similar incidents, two artistes playing the role of Lord Hanuman and Ravan respectively, died in the past few days while performing in the Ramlila.
In the first incident, Ram Swaroop, dressed as Lord Hanuman, collapsed while dancing at Ganeshotsav event in Fatehpur and died of heart attack during the Ramlila. Similarly Patiram, 60, who was playing the role of Ravan, suddenly took ill during the staging of Ramlila at Aihar village in Ayodhya and died.
Meanwhile, the body of a female safai, who had gone to collect medicine, was found lying on the side of the railway track in Hardoi. The woman's in-laws later created a ruckus in the city Kotwali, alleging that she was murdered.
Reports said that after the death of safai worker Ram Vilas of Fakirabad in Tadyawan police station area, his wife, Priya Pal, got a job. Priya lived in Watganj in the city. On Monday evening, she had left home saying that she was going to purchase medicine. She did not return home.
On Tuesday night, her body was found lying on the side of the railway track near Kakwahi village. Her jewelry and mobile phone were missing. The family members suspect that she was rob, murdered and later her body was thrown on the railway track. They also claimed that if it was an accident then the body would have been recovered the same night she went missing.
Late in the night, Priya Pal's brother-in-law Ramsagar and Ramprasad, Priya's two sons Piyush and Ayush, besides other relatives reached Kotwali and demanded that a murder case be registered.
Station House Officer Sanjay Pandey tried to pacify them, saying that further action would be taken only on the basis of the post-mortem report. The family, however, staged a demonstration before senior officers convinced them of appropriate action.
In Farrukhabad, a man ended his life.
Reports said that Ratnesh, had a tiff with his wife on Tuesday evening after which he assaulted her and later kicked her out of the house along with his minor daughter and bolted the door from inside. His wife rushed to seek help from neighbours. Finally when the door was broken open in the late evening, Ratnesh was found hanging from the ceiling. He committed suicide.