An Indian man identified as Deeraj Kharol, who buried himself alive to become God, was rescued by the police after spending 8 hours in the grave.

However after the Indian man who helped in digging a pit for him near the temple where he stayed, was buried the police got wind of the ritual.

Police officers were deployed to the scene, after people from other villages and hamlets gathered to witness the ritual burial and covered the pit with stone slabs and mud, and started worshiping at the spot.

The villagers who were at the burial spot, reportedly stopped officer Mansingh Dev and his colleagues who arrived at the pit at around 2 am on Thursday from rescuing Deeraj Kharol, according to them, they were there to distract the ritual.

The policemen were however able to convince the village elders, that Deeraj Kharol would die out of suffocation if he wasn’t rescued on time. He was reportedly brought out almost unconscious, and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

At the hospital, Deeraj Kharol who told the police officers that the burial ritual was an instruction by the “supreme power”, said  it was his own wish to perform ‘samadhi’, claiming he wanted to attain salvation.

The Indian man who told authorities to leave the villagers alone and hold him responsible for the incident, has been charged with the villagers who assisted him to bury himself alive.