Bhubaneswar: Family of veteran Odia Jatra artist Devi Prasad Rath, who passed away on Wednesday following a cardiac arrest, has blamed DJ music played during Boita Bandana Utsav celebration as part of the Kartika Purnima ritual for his death.

“We lost him to the blaring music. Our entire house was trembling due to loud vibration from the amplified DJ music. It went on for about 2 hours with no one paying any head to our repeated requests,” his son alleged. ADVERTISEMENT

The 71-year-old Jatra icon, who had been keeping unwell for the last several days, suffered a heart attack while asleep at his home at Paradipgarh in Jagatsinghpur district early this morning.

After beginning his journey as a child artist in plays, Rath had a distinguished career spanning over four decades in the Odia j

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