Man dies after asking to be buried alive
A devout Hindu has died after villagers carried out his request to bury him alive.
Thousands of people are now visiting the spot in an Indian village to offer prayers.
Police say they may not be able to treat his death as a crime.
The Sandhya Varta newspaper reports Hemubhai Talasibhai, a 70-year-old farmer from Bodi in Gujarat, wanted to attain samadhi - believed to be a state of spiritual liberation where a person becomes united with their maker.
He lowered himself into a 5ft deep pit he had dug in the middle of a field. Over 5,000 people watched as he climbed in and sat cross-legged in a yogic pose with a coconut in his hands.
The villagers say they followed the man's instructions by filling the pit with mud after they saw "the soul had left the body''. The man was dead by the time police arrived and had the pit dug up.
A spokesman said: "We don't know whether we can investigate this case as a possible crime. There is little we can do when the villagers are determined to give the incident a mystical halo."
The man's family say he had wanted to attain samadhi for over five years but had been persuaded to postpone the idea.
His son Mohanbhai said: "He said his mission in life was completed and that his guru had ordered him in a dream to take leave of the mortal body.
"We feel guilty to have made fun of his belief in 330 million Hindu gods and goddesses. The strength of purpose and the calmness he displayed before giving up his body has forced us to give up our skepticism."
