By Sujit Chakraborty, IANS
Agartala : Pharmacy shop owner Dilip Bharadwaj, 51, from Assam stunned Durga Puja revellers here by piercing more than 6,000 disposable needles into his body.
On Saturday night, Bharadwaj, who runs a pharmacy shop in southern Assam’s Silchar town, pierced 6,146 needles into his body as thousands of curious onlookers looked on amazed.
“We came to see Durga Puja, but were overawed by his audacious act,” said a senior police official. Bharadwaj, also known as “porcupine man”, was invited to Agartala by a local club to attract crowds during the puja festival.
“I have been piercing needles in my body for the last few years, but for the first time I got a chance to perform in front of a large crowd, VIPs and media persons,” Bharadwaj told IANS.
He claims to have broken the world record by piercing more than 6,000 needles.
“Piercing 6,146 needles is surely a Guinness record as the previous such record was by a Chinese acupuncture physician who had pierced 3,600 needles,” Bharadwaj claimed.
The Indian record, according to Bharadwaj, is by a person from the south who had pierced 1,009 needles in his body.
A family illness inspired Bharadwaj to try piercing needles in his body. His wife Niyati required to take an injection, but was scared.
“To instil some courage in her, I took up a disposable syringe and pierced it on my body to show that it does not hurt much,” Bharadwaj said.
This soon turned out to be a passion for him.
“I spike the needles all around my stomach and design it like a flower or an insect,” he said. Doctors attribute the feat to sheer courage and practice.
“Bharadwaj might have high pain resistance,” Pradip Bhowmik, a local doctor, said.