A fitness race for police recruitment has ended in tragedy for 9 applicants who gave up the ghost in the process.
The 9 persons died at different locations from August 22, when the exercise started.

Six participants died at Jharkhand’s Palamau, 2 at Padma and one each at Giridih, Sahibganj and Musabani all areas in Jharkhand,a state in the Eastern part of India.

There were about 583 sweating out to stand a chance of being chosen for the available positions,before tragedy struck during a 10-km, 60 minutes race. A police official who confirmed the deaths said all the casualties are male.

“On Saturday a candidate from Manikabandh village under Herodih police station area of Giridih, Suraj Verma (27), died at Padma during the running test.

“He started his 10-km run at 6.45am and completed it within the given 60 minutes.
“After he completed his run, his health condition started deteriorating.
“The doctors present there provided him with first aid and sent him to the Hazaribagh Sadar Hospital, where doctors declared him ‘brought dead. It was Padma’s second death.

“Earlier on August 23, Mahesh Prasad Mehta, a candidate from Mandu, had died.

“Reports of such death have also come from Palamau, where four died on different days.

“Similar deaths took place at Sahibganj, Giridih and Musabani,” the police official said.

A police official at Sahibganj providing more background on casualtes during the Fitness Race For Police Rrecrutiment. added: “Vikas Linda (22) from Ranchi died on Saturday night at Sahibganj.

“He had fainted while running. He was admitted at Sadar Hospital, where he died during treatment at night.

“A case of unnatural death was registered in this connection at Jirwabadi police station, and the body was sent for autopsy”, according to a Hindustan report

The Eagle reports that even in Nigeria, police recruitment exercises could run out of hand especially in the area of crowd control.

A police official in Palamau said: “The name of the candidate who died on Thursday is Abhishek Kumar.

“He was a resident of Barela police station area of Gaya in Bihar. The deceased candidate’s post-mortem was done on Friday in the medical board’s presence.

“On the same day, another candidate referred from here to RIMS died. He was Ajay Kumar Mahto, a resident of Ormanjhi in Ranchi.”

Palamau civil surgeon (CS) Anil Kumar Singh confirmed the fact but expressed his inability to give any conclusive statement explaining the reason behind the death.

“Anything could be said only after the autopsy report comes out but the primary reason appears to be dehydration or use of some drugs, or alcoholism that cause internal weakness.

“Most of those who fainted in Palamau got treatment at Medini Rai Medical College and Hospital,” Singh said.

State police spokesperson and IG (operation) AV Homkar confirmed the fact, saying a probe is underway in the matter.

“A probe has started. Only a doctor can share the exact reason (behind the deaths). “We at our level have taken all precautions to ensure that the candidates do not face any problem.

“Water, medical team, washroom and other facilities have been provided.

“The timing of the physical test was kept in the morning to ensure that the candidates do not face problems due to heat. From today, the time of the physical test has also been changed. Now it would start at 4am,” Homkar said.

Mahesh’s father, Mitralal Mahto, told a section of media that his son would not have died if he was provided medical treatment on time.