Five men drowned in a temple pond in Muvarasampattu in Chennai on Wednesday, April 5. The tragic incident happened when the men were taking a ritualistic dip as part of the rituals in a temple pond along with 15 others. According to reports, an idol procession was held at the Muvarasampattu Dharmalingeshwarar temple as part of the temple festival. Nearly 20 palanquin bearers carried the Shiva statue and conducted an idol procession in the locality. At the end of the procession, they left the idol on the bank of the temple pond and took a ritualistic dip. Everyone except for the 5 men returned from the pond after the dip. On realising that they are missing, the other palanquin bearers searched for them with the help of local residents. However, they were not able to find or rescue anyone. Later, they informed the Velachery fire station.

Fire department personnel rushed to the spot and found the bodies of the five men who had drowned. Later, Pazhavanthangal police sent the bodies of the deceased persons to the Government Hospital in Chromepet. The police have initiated the probe.

Minister for MSME and Alandur constituency MLA Tha Mo Anbarasan and Chengalpattu District Collector Rahul Nath visited the spot and spoke to the temple administration. In a press meeting, they said that the temple is not under the control of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department and said that the police would conduct an inquiry on whether the temple administration obtained appropriate permission to conduct idol procession and deployed necessary safety measures.

The deceased have been identified as Surya (24), Ragavan(18), and Vanesh (20) from Nanganallur, Raghav (22) from Madipakkam, and Yogeshwaran (23) from Kilkattalai. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia each for the family members of those who drowned in the temple pond.