The Hindu : Lizard in prasadam, four taken ill

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 28, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Lizard in prasadam, four taken ill

By Our Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM DEC. 27. Four persons, including three of a family, were taken ill on Saturday after they consumed prasadam of Lord Lakshmi Nrusimhaswamy at Simhachalam, in which a lizard was found.

A 30-year-old woman, Ch. Ramalakshmi, resident of Simhadri Nagar on the city outskirts, found a lizard in the packet of yellow rice (pulihara) prasadam she was consuming along with her two children Lokesh, 13, and Swetha, 7, and a neighbour Mohan Deepak, 8, at home after their return from the shrine.

All of them developed nausea and were admitted to a local private hospital by neighbours and the packets shown to the devasthanam Executive Officer, V. Shankar Reddy, who immediately stopped sale of prasadam at the counters.

All four them were shifted to another hospital in Gopalapatnam and were declared out of danger by the doctors, the EO said. He later inspected the kitchen and the prasadam packing hall of the temple and accepted that lizard had fallen in the packet, but it had not led to poisoning\contamination of prasadam.The samples from the prasadam packet were inspected by the scientists of Medical and Health Department, the EO said. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, expressed shock over the incident. He asked the temple EO to inquire into the matter.

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