Two women died and eight people are in serious condition after consuming prasadam offered by a devotee at the Ganga Bhavani Devi temple in Karnataka's Chikkaballapur district on Friday.
This incident has taken place a month after the tragedy at the temple in Chamarajanagar district where 17 people died due to pesticides mixed in the temple prasadam.
The two women have been identified as 28-year-old Kavitha and 56-year-old Saraswathamma, reports The Times of India.
The Ganga Bhavani Temple does not distribute prasadam in the temple premises. However, if a devotee's wish is fulfilled, they can distribute the offerings outside the temple premises and the temple authorities are not responsible for it or have any knowledge of it.
On Friday evening, a devotee was distributing Kesari bath which Kavitha had eaten and also took some home to give some for her children. Later, Kavitha began to complain of a stomach ache and began vomiting. She was taken to the hospital where she died.
Her children also were taken to the hospital for a check-up and were declared safe.
The district police are trying to get to the bottom of the issue. While questioning the two women who distributed the prasadam, they did not find any questionable ingredients even though they ruled that the materials used to prepare the offerings were of sub-standard quality.
Other devotees who were affected by the prasadam were Radha and Rajanna, who spent a night at the ICU. Two children were also admitted at the paediatrics ICU at the Jalappa hospital and are out of danger.
Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said that more rules need to be formed regarding the distribution of temple prasadam.
"We need rules for distribution of prasadam in temples. I'll convene a meeting of officials to finalise it. The Chikkaballapura incident is shocking; I've sought a report from the district administration and police." Kumaraswamy was quoted as saying by TOI.
