Four die, three hurt in Mandla Ganesh pandal electrocution

Four young men died and three others were injured when electric current passed through a Ganesh pandal where they were sleeping in Hirapur village, within the Nainpur police station limits of Madhya Pradesh's Mandla district, police said on Saturday.

The incident occurred around 5 a.m. Eight men had been resting in the tent after returning from the immersion of the Ganesh idol.

Mandla Superintendent of Police Rajesh Raghuvanshi said the survivors told investigators that a short circuit in a music amplifier caused a live wire to touch the metal grill of a small temple at the spot where the pandal had been put up. Seven of those present received shocks, while one man was standing far enough away to escape the current.

According to the SP, power had been cut around 3 a.m., and the short circuit occurred when supply was restored. Early accounts of the incident had suggested that a live wire from an electric pole had fallen on the tent, but Raghuvanshi said a technical team from the power department had traced the source to the amplifier. Any legal action will follow the department's inquiry report, he added.

Nainpur Sub-Divisional Police Officer Manish Raj identified the dead as Ravi Jharia, 23, Jainu Bhanwre, 19, Krishna Kumar Bhanwre, 18, and Virendra Bhanwre, 24.

Two of the injured are being treated at the government hospital in Nainpur and are stable, while a third has been referred to the district hospital in Mandla.

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav expressed grief over the deaths and announced financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh to the family of each of the deceased. In a post on X, he described the news as extremely heartbreaking, paid tribute to the departed, said the government stood with the bereaved families in their hour of grief, and said the district administration had been instructed to release the assistance.