BHOPAL : A 42-year-old man sacrificed his life by jumping into the upper lake during the immersion of Durga idol at Prempura Ghat within the limits of Kamla Nagar police station on Friday early morning around 4 am. The divers of the police tried hard but his body could not be fished out till the filing of the report. According to eyewitnesses the deceased shouted ‘Jai Mata Di’ and jumped into the water.
CSP RD Bharadwaj said that the deceased was identified as Pradeep Marathe, 42, son of Devraj Marathe, resident of Lalita Nagar in Kolar area. He worked in a private firm.
The son of the deceased Akshay said that on Thursday night after his father came back from work he along with other members of the Akash Vyapari Samiti which had put up tableaux of Durga in the Navratri festival went out for immersion of the idol.
CSP Bharadwaj said that the deceased Pradeep with members of Samiti left with the procession for immersion of idol around 12 am on Thursday night and reached near Prempura Ghat around 3.30 am.
Around 4 am deceased Pradeep along with six to seven members of Samiti took a boat and kept the idol on it. When the boat reached in the middle of the lake water, and members had immersed the idol in the water, Pradeep threw the bags of flowers and other puja material in water and started shouting ‘Jai Mata Di’ and before anyone could anticipate his move jumped into the water.
