GURGAON: A 27-year-old man who was put inside a sack and buried in a bizarre circus stunt that was performed last week at a village in Nuh, with the audience promised the spectacle of watching him emerge from there alive after a long gap, suffocated. His death was discovered only when other members of the stunt group dug up the ground during the finale, which is believed to be three days after the burial, to pull him out.
Live samadhi (live burial) is an extremely dangerous act that, despite being illegal, is still performed in rural areas
Deepak, a resident of Gaunchi village in Faridabad, was one of the organisers of a travelling bicycle circus that had set itself up on a vacant plot at Khori village in Tauru. Before the burial act, Deepak performed a series of cycling stunts — balancing on handlebars, riding without looking at wheels, and standing upright on a moving bicycle to entertain the crowd.The finale was his signature “live samadhi”, a feat popular at village fairs in parts of north India. Deepak got into a sack, lowered himself into a specially dug pit and was covered with mounds of soil.
Police believe Deepak entered the pit on Thursday, but the timeline remains unclear. Cops are recording statements of fellow performers and villagers to establish how long he remained underground and whether the act continued beyond what had originally been planned.Those familiar with the stunt said surviving underground depends on years of practice, exceptional breath control and meticulous preparation. Small holes are made in the sack and narrow air passages are created through the soil to allow airflow. Even then, performers usually remain buried only for a few hours, or at most a day, because the risk rises sharply with time. And at the end of this extremely high-risk performance, the most the troupe makes is Rs 1,500-2,000 as collections from viewers who gather to watch.Dr Tushar Tayal, associate director of internal medicine at CK Birla Hospital, Gurgaon, said such feats remain medically perilous despite these precautions. “Surviving in a confined underground space depends on factors such as oxygen availability, ventilation, temperature and humidity. As oxygen levels fall and carbon dioxide builds up, a person can develop breathlessness, confusion and lose consciousness even before oxygen depletion becomes critical. Meditation or breath-control techniques may help tolerate reduced breathing briefly, but they cannot overcome the body’s need for oxygen. Small air passages may provide limited ventilation, but unless they ensure a continuous supply of fresh air, they are unlikely to sustain life for long. Such stunts carry a major risk of fatal asphyxia and should never be attempted,” he told TOI.Deepak’s elder brother Sunet Dav, who performed similar acts before quitting a couple of years ago, said the family had repeatedly urged him to stop and hinted at the possibility of foul play in his death. “Everyone in the family opposed this work. Only the two of us ever performed such stunts. I left because of the danger,” he added. Explaining the technique, he added, “My brother had been performing this act for almost 10 years and I did it for about 15. It requires practice. Normally, we never stay inside for more than 24 hours. Beyond that, it becomes dangerous. Ask the local people, they saw everything. They can tell who made him remain inside for so long.”Police said the troupe belonged to the nomadic Nat community, many of whose members continue to depend on acrobatic and circus performances for a livelihood in villages and small towns.Rajesh Kumar, SHO of Sadar Tauru police station, said police reached the spot after receiving information from villagers. “The body was sent for an autopsy and proceedings were completed. No case has been registered so far because we are yet to get a complaint,” he added.Nuh deputy commissioner Akhil Pilani said such stunts are illegal and said the administration would examine how such a life-threatening event was organised without permission. “Appropriate action will be taken against those found responsible after a detailed probe,” he said.The tragedy echoes a similar incident from 2017, when a 17-year-old boy in Panipat died after attempting a burial stunt in a sandpit, underlining the potentially fatal consequences of such performances despite their long association with village fairs. He was pulled out after 24 hours, but had stopped breathing by then.
