Manoj Barahate, the policeman on duty at the Kumbh Mela in Nashik, jumped into the river to save a devotee who tried to kill himself.

NASHIK: A devotee attending the Kumbh Mela in Nashik in Maharashtra tried to kill himself by jumping off a bridge into the waters of the River Godavari below.

A 24-year-old policeman on duty, Manoj Barahate, dove right in after him and saved the stranger's life. His act of bravery was caught on security cameras.


A devotee tried to kill himself at the Kumbh Mela in Nashik by jumping off the bridge into the River Godavari.
On Twitter, Praveen Gedam, the top official of the local corporation, said the police office had jumped off "a 20-feet-high bridge".

The Kumbh Mela -- a celebration of faith in which Hindus bathe in a sacred river -- is held every third year and is rotated between four holy sites.

It is held at Nashik every 12 years and, although it isn't on the same scale as the editions on the Ganga at Haridwar and the Sangam at Allahabad, it still draws millions of pilgrims.