Agra: A 60-year-old Delhi woman died after falling unconscious outside Thakur Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan on Wednesday, shortly after offering prayers at the shrine amid humid weather, police and temple officials said. Officials said Chandni Sikka, a resident of Madhuban Colony in Delhi, had reached the temple around 11.30am, completed darshan and exited through Gate No. 4 before sitting on a platform outside the temple, where she had prasad and drank water.
Police said her caregiver and driver later took the body to Delhi without a post-mortem examination. Mathura Sadar circle DSP Varun Mishra told TOI that Sikka’s health appeared to have deteriorated in the humid conditions. “We suspect cardiac arrest as the cause of death, and she had a history of high blood pressure,” Mishra said. Officials said doctors were deployed at the shrine and responded soon after security staff alerted them.
The incident occurred at a temple that sees heavy footfall through the day, with crowd movement often managed through gates, barricades and security personnel. In June this year, a man from Madhya Pradesh’s Guna district had died after visiting Banke Bihari temple in a similar incident.