Haryana circus performer dies during burial stunt; suffocation suspected
A 27-year-old performer from a traditional village circus troupe died allegedly of suffocation after a risky "live Samadhi" stunt went wrong in Haryana's Nuh district
A 27-year-old performer from a traditional village circus troupe died allegedly of suffocation after a risky "live Samadhi" stunt went wrong in Haryana's Nuh district, police said on Wednesday. Deepak, a resident of Gaunchi village in Faridabad, had performed the act many times before, in which he would emerge after being buried alive in a sack for three days. Police said Deepak became unresponsive when his associates tried to pull him out of the pit where he had been lowered and then covered with a mound of soil. Read Full Story He was taken to hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Officials said an investigation is underway and the administration will also examine how such a dangerous event was organised without permission. According to police, Deepak entered the pit on July 23 during the performance in Khori village in the Tauru area of Nuh district, where his family had camped on a vacant plot. Investigators later found that he had died of suffocation inside the pit, a senior police officer said. Police said Deepak's family were traditional performers who travelled from one village to another, and he too had been part of such acts for around 15 years.
Before the burial act, he performed a series of cycling stunts for the crowd. The finale was the "live Samadhi", in which he was placed inside a sack, lowered into a specially dug pit and covered with mounds of soil. Local sources said such performances were common in the area, although the time spent underground would vary from a few hours to a day or two. Deepak's brother had, however, stopped doing the risky act. There has also been speculation about how such performers survived, with some claiming that airways and oxygen were secretly provided. "Preliminary investigations suggest suffocation under the soil as the likely cause, but the final picture will only become clear after the post-mortem report is received", Inspector Rajesh Kumar, SHO of Tauru Sadar Police Station, said.
Nuh District Commissioner Akhil Pilani said such stunts were illegal and the administration would look into how a life-threatening event of this kind was held without permission. The case centres on the death of a performer during a traditional burial stunt that police believe led to suffocation, with the final cause to be confirmed after the post-mortem report. Ends
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