Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Mar 10: The annual car festival of legendary and historically famous temple of Goddess Mookambika was held at Kollur in the taluk on Tuesday March 9, in the presence of thousands of devotees.

As the governing council of the temple is yet to be constituted, temple executive officer, H M Kale, led the proceedings. Religious rituals were directed by temple Tantry, Manjunath Adiga, chief priest, K S Narasimha Adiga, K N Govind Adiga, Sridhar Adiga etc. Kollur gram panchayat president, Jayaprakash Shetty, immediate past president of the temple governing council, Krishnaprasad Adyantaya, former trustees etc., were present.

The celebrations were marred by an incident in which a devotee got crushed under the wheels of the chariot. N A Babu (45), who works as a peon in a school in Vadakkara, Kerala, was the unfortunate victim of a freak accident.

Traditionally, coins are tossed at the devotees from above the chariot, as the chariot moves through Car Street. There was a melee as the devotees vied with each other to catch hold of the coins. Babu, who was critically injured in the incident, died on way to a hospital. Another person also sustained injuries to his leg in this incident. The accident was so sudden that in spite of the presence of security personnel in good numbers, it could not be averted.