BHOPAL: A 25-year-old farmer died of excessive bleeding after he slashed his tongue and offered it before idol of Goddess Durga in Satna district on Thursday morning.

The deceased has been identified as Deepak Kol, resident of Kharhata village.

Driven by superstition, none of the villagers took him to a hospital while he kept bleeding and fell unconscious on Wednesday, said local police. When Kol did not gain conscious till Thursday morning, village sarpanch informed the police, they added.

The police took him to district hospital where doctors declared him 'brought dead'. A case has been registered by the police to ascertain if he was encouraged to do so.

The police said it was not the only incident where a 'tongue offering' was made in the disctrict.

In another similar incident, 32-year-old villager Rajkumar Vishwakarma was reported to have cut a portion of his tongue as an offering to a goddess at a temple of Satna’s Chourhai village. He fell unconscious while other villagers in the temple premises continued to offer their prayers. Vishwakarma was admitted to district hospital a few hours later. Doctors told police that timely admission saved his life.

Earlier, on August 10, 2008, 45-year-old Ghanshyam Kori had died withing few hours of slashing his tongue with a shaving blade and offering it to the photograph of Goddess Durga in Nagod tahsil while the villagers, as usual, stood as mute spectators, the police said.

As his condition worsened, his neighbours tried to take him to hospital, but Ghanshyam refused to go along claiming he would recover with deity’s blessings. Expecting a miracle they gave up on him and started rituals to appease the goddess, recalls a police officer.