Shravanabelagola: Anantharaju (46), a pilgrim from Mysuru, died of cardiac arrest yesterday while climbing the Vindhyagiri Hill in Shravanabelagola to witness the Mahamastakabhisheka of Lord Bahubali.

A resident of Railway Layout in Vijayanagar, Anantharaju is the third Mysurean to breathe his last at the pilgrim centre.

Anantharaju was climbing the hill-steps at about 2.30 pm, when he collapsed after suffering a heart attack. He was immediately rushed to the ambulance at the foot of the hill by the volunteers where the doctors declared him dead.

Anantharaju had visited Shravanabelagola along with his family members on the concluding day of the Mahamastakabhisheka yesterday.

Another pilgrim identified as Sadanand (75), retired employee of the Statistics Department and a resident of Hebbal 5th Main in Mysuru, had died on Feb. 23 morning after suffering a heart attack. Sadanand, who had taken a house on rent in Shravanabelagola to take part in the Mahamastakabhisheka rituals, was camping at the Jain pilgrimage shrine along with his wife, according to Sunil Kumar Jain, President of Digambar Jain Samaj, Mysuru.

It may be recalled that C.D. Vidyadhar (55), a resident of First Cross, Bhavya Bharath Layout, behind BEML Layout, Srirampura in city and a CHESCom Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE), too had  died of heart attack while taking part in a procession as part of Mahamastakabhisheka at Shravanabelagola on Feb. 9.

According to Dr. Ganesh, who is deployed at Shravanabelagola for the Mahamastakabhisheka, a total of 20 pilgrims had suffered heart attack out of which 12 of them suffered massive attacks and were admitted to various hospitals in Bengaluru and Mysuru.