Nayagarh: In a bizarre incident, a youth slashed his tongue inside the Lord Ladu Baba Shiva temple at Sarankul in Odisha’s Nayagarh district on Monday morning.
Briefing the media about the incident, IIC of Sarankul police station Manoj Satpathy said a police team rushed to the temple and found the youth lying in a pool of blood with his slashed tongue. He was immediately rushed to the district headquarters hospital, he said.
“The youth has identified himself as Ashok Behera, son of Kailash Behera of Behera Sahi of Barkul village under Balugaon police station limits. We have contacted the Balugaon IIC about the incident,” he added.
Talking to the media persons at the hospital, the youth said he was ordered by the Lord to come to the temple to get cured of his illness.
“I had come to the temple yesterday and wanted to stay there in the night. But the servitors pushed me out of the temple after I informed them about my wish to cut off my tongue as per the order of the Lord. Finding no other alternative, I came to Nayagarh by bus. But after reaching there, I was again called by the Lord. Since it was night and there was no bus to Sarankul, I had to walk 20 km on foot to Sharankul and reached the temple in the morning. Later, I went inside the temple and cut off my tongue,” he added.
Asked why he decided to cut off his tongue, he said he was under the spell of black magic by a sorcerer. “To ward off his evil spell on me, I had sought the Lord's intervention,” he pointed out.
“From the behaviour of the patient, it seems that he might have lost his mental balance. We have put him in the Surgery ward after preliminary treatment. His condition is now stable. His further treatment would be done by Dr Pitabas Tripathy, the Surgery specialist, later in the day,” said Dr Ajay Kumar Bahinipati.