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A story of blood and lore: The Pioneer
Gandhinagar, July 27: Hemmed in by the overly devout, a family of miracle- seekers now finds itself caught between sleuths and rationalists, both baying for its blood.
Gandhinagar, July 27: Hemmed in by the overly devout, a family of miracle- seekers now finds itself caught between sleuths and rationalists, both baying for its blood.
And human blood is at the heart of the predicament that Hiralal Shah finds himself in. According to the 73-year-old Shah, blood began oozing out of the flooring of his bathroom on Wednesday. Soon, the phenomenon spread to other parts of his house. This miracle, which began at 7.40 am while he was taking a bath, soon spread to other parts of the house, the bedroom excluded. Blood stopped oozing at 8.30 am.
As news of the 'miracle' spread, all roads started leading to his Arvind Society home in Maninagar. With an evergrowing, inquisitive crowd turning unwieldy, the cops tried hard to grapple with reason though mass fascination had long put truth to sleep. Some pooh-poohed, many lit candles, most folded hands in obesience but everyone wanted a peep - believers, non-believers alike. Adding grist to the rumour mill was the Forensic Science Laboratory which concluded that that human blood it was. The cops are questioning the family. There are reasons to believe that a tantrik ritual either for a miracle cure for a debilitating ailment or in search of a hidden treasure entails sprinkling of human blood.
Hiralal's son Mahesh has had a paralytic attack. So contend cops who have questioned tantriks to unravel this mysterious occurrence. The digging of the flooring of the house has also not brought out anything new. Rationalists from Rajkot-based Bharatiya Jan Vigyan Jatha, headed by it's chairman Jayant Pandya, visited the house twice and debunked the miracle theory, saying it was man's handiwork. Mr Pandya said there were glaring disparities in statements of the family. The police are awaiting the final FSL report but are keen to get to the source of blood. Blood samples of the Shahs have been taken.
As news of the 'miracle' spread, all roads started leading to his Arvind Society home in Maninagar. With an evergrowing, inquisitive crowd turning unwieldy, the cops tried hard to grapple with reason though mass fascination had long put truth to sleep. Some pooh-poohed, many lit candles, most folded hands in obesience but everyone wanted a peep - believers, non-believers alike. Adding grist to the rumour mill was the Forensic Science Laboratory which concluded that that human blood it was. The cops are questioning the family. There are reasons to believe that a tantrik ritual either for a miracle cure for a debilitating ailment or in search of a hidden treasure entails sprinkling of human blood.
Hiralal's son Mahesh has had a paralytic attack. So contend cops who have questioned tantriks to unravel this mysterious occurrence. The digging of the flooring of the house has also not brought out anything new. Rationalists from Rajkot-based Bharatiya Jan Vigyan Jatha, headed by it's chairman Jayant Pandya, visited the house twice and debunked the miracle theory, saying it was man's handiwork. Mr Pandya said there were glaring disparities in statements of the family. The police are awaiting the final FSL report but are keen to get to the source of blood. Blood samples of the Shahs have been taken.