Jamshedpur: In a bizarre incident, the villagers of Jagannathpur under Ghatsila police station area set adrift the body of a 10 year-old girl who reportedly died of snakebite in the Swarnarekha here on Saturday. The body was tied to trunks of banana plant.
Along with the body, the superstitious villagers also tied a placard made of thermocol bearing the name, address and mobile phone numbers of the deceased.
No sooner did the body get noticed by some people near Amainagar Ghat, a large crowd gathered at the riverbank. Speculations were rife about the cause of death of the minor.
Police reached the scene and identified the deceased as Mamata Dheewar, a class III student and daughter of Bistu Dheewar, a resident of Jagannathpur under Bankati panchayat of Ghatsila PS area. Cops identified the body with the help of phone numbers and address written on the placard found with the body.
Ram Chandra Ram, the officer in-charge of Ghatsila PS, said, �We inquired about the body found floating in the river with the family members of the deceased. They told us that a snake bit the girl in the wee hours. In the morning, local witch doctors tried to revive the girl but all went in vain.
Later, the body was floated in the river in the hope of the girl coming to life as per superstitious beliefs of the villagers.�
The OC said the tradition of floating the bodies of snake bite victims was not new in the local villages.