Uttarakhand: Boy dies after falling off kandi operator's back on way to Kedarnath

A five-year-old boy being carried on the back of a 'kandi' operator or pithoo (a person who carries a pilgrim on their back) to Kedarnath in Uttarakhand died after falling into a deep gorge on way to the temple.

The incident occurred near Badi Lincholi on Saturday when the boy named Shiva was going along with his parents and other family members to the Himalayan temple.

As the boy was tired, his parents hired a kandi operator for him to take him up the steep trek from Gaurikund to Kedarnath, Rudraprayag Disaster Management officer Nandan Singh Parihar said.

The kandi operator, with the boy on his back, went ahead of them and the family followed on foot.

Unfortunately, the boy fell off his back into a 200-metre deep gorge near Badi Lincholi on the way and died on the spot, Parihar said. The boy's parents came to know about the tragedy when some pilgrims returning from the shrine told them about it.

Police and SDRF personnel rushed to the spot and pulled the body of the boy out of the gorge

The family was from Agra in Uttar Pradesh. On the basis of a complaint lodged by the father of the boy, a case has been registered against an unidentified kandi operator at Sonprayag police station.

A search is on to nab the kandi operator on the basis of the description given by the victim's father, Parihar added.

(With inputs from PTI)

READ | Delhi man hits 3 neighbours with iron rod after attacking pet dog for barking, video surfaces