Two women reportedly died after eating food offered at a temple in Karnataka’s Chikkaballapura district. Officials have identified the victims as 28-year-old Kavitha and 59-year-old Saraswathamma. The incident, which took place on Saturday near the town of Chintamani in the district, resulted in at least 11 others being admitted to the hospital.

"A probe has been ordered after a woman died due to consumption of temple offering in Chikkaballapura district," a statement from Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy's office said. The CM also said that a recurrence warranted guidelines. “The recurrence of such incidents warrants a guideline. In this regard, we will take necessary steps after discussing with officials," he said.

According to PTI, two women came to the temple and distributed prasadam to the devotees. “The temple management is not involved as nobody had prepared any 'prasad' there. Two women had brought some 'prasad' and were distributing it,” the police said, according to the report. The two women, 45-year-old Lakshmi and her domestic help, Amaravathi, are being questioned. Devotees then began complaining of stomach pain, and were rushed to the hospital.

Kavitha died while receiving treatment at a state-run hospital in the district, said Chikkaballapura Deputy Commissioner P Anirudh Sravan. Kavitha was first taken to SNR hospital and then later shifted to R L Jalappa hospital, where she died. It has been reported that four other members of her family, including her husband Gangadhar (35) and their two daughters were also admitted to the hospital after falling ill following consuming the food from the temple.

In December 2018, a similar incident took place in Chamrajnagar’s Sulvadi village. 13 people died and 60 fell seriously ill after consuming the prasadam served at the Maramma temple in the village. It was later found that the food had been poisoned, with the temple's pontiff and three trustees admitted to mixing insecticide in the offering.

(With IANS inputs)