Shashi Tharoor declared fit after thulabharam injury at Kerala temple

Shashi Tharoor , who underwent the weighing ritual, reportedly fell from the weighing scale and sustained head injury; scans dismiss anomalies

MP Shashi Tharoor, who had a minor fall during a thulabharam (weighing) ceremony at Kerala's Gandhari Amman Kovil temple, was declared fit and discharged from the hospital on Tuesday. A persistent headache and bleeding noticed in his computed tomography (CT) report after the fall had put the neurosurgery team and medical board into panic mode for over 24 hours. Tharoor was, however, discharged on Tuesday afternoon after an MRI scan ruled out any abnormalities.

Professor Dr Arun Kumar attached to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College said that Tharoor, suffering from diabetes and hypertension, had been undergoing anti-platelet medication and therefore suffered from excessive bleeding post the fall. "We had to conduct an MRI scan of the brain and cervical spine to ascertain the exact findings of the CT scan, and luckily no bleeding was spotted. We suspect the persistent headache could be due to the impact of head injury," Dr Kumar told mid-day. The Congress leader has been advised to not campaign for a day.

Kerala's Gandhari Amman Kovil temple

While hospital authorities clarified that Tharoor had paid for the scans conducted on him at the government-run hospital, some senior staff at the hospital were against charging the leader since he had in the past arranged for ventilators and other equipment for the hospital, along with constructing the waiting area through his MP funds.

A team of local police was stationed outside the hospital's Neuro Surgery ICU during Tharoor's stay and no one apart from cabinet ministers/state ministers were allowed to visit him.

Also Read: Shashi Tharoor falls while performing ritual; receives ten stitches on head

'Not the thulabharam'

Authorities at the Gandhari Amman Kovil temple in Thiruvananthapuram have, however, rubbished media reports that claimed the leader sustained injuries owing to the temple thulabharam (weighing scale) falling on his head.

R P Nair, secretary at the temple, said that was weighed with sugar at the thulabharam section of the temple. "But instead of allowing the leader to step down after the weighing was done, party workers were holding both sides of the thulabharam and posing with the leader for photographs. Due to excess force, the thulabharam broke and fell," Nair said, adding, "Tharoor did not get injured in the fall but after he fell, he lost balance and his head hit the Ganapati Havan Kund and he started bleeding profusely."

Nair said that this was the first such incident at the temple and hence thulabharam ceremonies have been stopped until a police inquiry in the matter concludes. "A Vedic astrologer will be called to find a solution to avert such incidents in the future. The police have recorded our statements and have taken photographs of the broken thulabharam," Nair said.

Also Read: Nirmala Sitharaman visits Shashi Tharoor in hospital

Accidental case

Inspector Mohan Lal, attached to the Thampnoor police station said that no case has been registered nor have any complaints been received. "It seems to be an accidental case than anything else at this stage," Lal said. Deputy Commissioner of Police (L&O) Aadhithya R said, "In case anyone makes a written complaint to us, the police will surely take up the matter and will probe. At this moment, we have not much to do." Tharoor has sought a probe into the accident, saying, "My mother, who is 86, said she has never ever heard of the 'tulabharam' breaking. It's better that a probe finds out what happened."

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