For Kesavan, a city bus conductor hailing from Mogappair, it was the second trip to the Sabarimala hill shrine in the span of a few weeks that turned into an ill-fated journey.
The devotee, who works as a conductor with Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC), was among the pilgrims killed in the stampede at Sabarimala. At least 35 devotees from elsewhere in Tamil Nadu were among the over 100 victims.
The body of Kesavan was brought to his home in Mogappair East on Sunday morning.
Kesavan had undertaken a pilgrimage to Sabarimala and returned in mid-December.
However, as his son wanted to visit Sabarimala to witness the Makara Jyothi, Kesavan set out for the hill shrine a second time on January 12 with his son Lokesh (18). Lokesh, an engineering student, and three others who accompanied them, survived the stampede, police sources said.
The body of another pilgrim identified as Krishnaprasad (40) from West Mambalam was also handed over to relatives.
The bodies of many more pilgrims were brought to their homes in different parts of the State through Sunday as a result of a coordinated exercise by police, revenue and medical teams with their counterparts in Kerala.
The bodies of seven devotees from Dharmapuri were cremated in their villages. While four victims have been identified to be from Coimbatore, police said there were three devotees from Tiruvallur and two each from Tirupur, Nilgiris, Cuddalore, Dindigul and Namakkal districts who died in the tragedy. There was one victim each from Salem, Erode, Tiruvannamalai, Kancheepuram, Madurai, Tuticorin and Tirunelveli.
Meanwhile, the Government has started disbursing ex-gratia amounts to the next of kin of the victims. The State Government has announced a solatium of Rs.1 lakh to the family of each of the deceased and Rs.25,000 to those injured.
In Dindigul, officials handed over a solatium of Rs.1 lakh each to family members of the two pilgrims who died in Sabarimala.
In Theni, Revenue Minister I. Periasamy and District Collector P. Muthuveeran visited the Vandiperiyar Government Hospital on Saturday night and directed the transportation of five injured to Theni hospital.
Apart from 16 pilgrims from Tamil Nadu and one each from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, two devotees from Sri Lanka were treated at the Theni Government Medical College Hospital at Andipatti on Sunday.
Eight bodies that were yet to be identified have been kept in the Kottayam Medical College Hospital, he said.
