Madurai: A 45-year-old man in the spectators’ gallery at a jallikattu event held in Alanganallur died of heart attack. Meanwhile, 40 bull tamers were injured during a bull taming event on Thursday. Jallikattu was also held at several locations, including Avarangadu, Pudukottai, Karur and Dindigul.
According to sources, Tamilnadu minister R B Udhaya Kumar inaugurated the event by flagging off the release of a bull.
1,500 police personnel were stationed for security purposes and Indo-Tibetan Border Police team was also deployed at the event in which 729 bulls took part. During the event the minister also unveiled a memorial slab for Jallikattu at Alanganallur. The memorial would be built to honour the pro-Jallikattu protests.
Gifts worth lakhs of rupees were given to those who succeeded in taming the bulls and bull owners whose animals could not be tamed.
According to police, many bull tamers were injured in the events across Tamilnadu. Several events centred on rural sports and folk arts were also held across Tamil Nadu by the tourism department as part of the Pongal celebrations.