A 35-year-old man has died after allegedly swallowing a live chick as part of a ritual he believed would help him become a dad.
Anand Kumar Yadav felt dizzy and fainted shortly after getting out of the bath on Saturday (14 Dec), according to his family.
He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
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A post-mortem examination was carried out to ascertain the cause of death.
And the pathologist was stunned when he made an incision in Yadav’s throat that revealed the carcass of a young bird.
Dr Santu Bag told local media in Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh, India: “I have performed over 15,000 post-mortems in my career.
“And this is the first time I have encountered such a case.
“When we opened the throat, we saw a whole chick.
“One part of the chick was stuck in the deceased’s windpipe and the other part was stuck in the food pipe.”
It is believed the chick was alive when Yadav swallowed it whole in Chhindkalo village.

Local residents say he had been in contact with a Tantric guru because he was struggling with infertility.
They say he may have swallowed the chick in the belief that it would help him become a father.
Yadav’s relatives insist they were unaware of the ritual, as reported by Need To Know.

The deceased man who swallowed the chick. (Jam Press/TIM)
The police have reportedly launched an investigation into the case.
In February, a wannabe bodybuilder was rushed to A&E in Delhi, India, with stomach pain and nausea.
Medics were stunned when an X-ray revealed 39 coins and 37 magnets in his internal organs.

It turned out he had ingested them in the belief that the zinc in them would beef him up.
Surgeons removed the objects and repaired his organs in a gruelling operation lasting nearly two hours.
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