Mrityunjay Mandal runs the marathon in Mumbai. (PTI)

Mumbai, Sept. 24: Four months after Bangalore police stopped wonder kid Budhia Singh from attempting one of his “marathons”, Mumbai allowed a seven-year-old Orissa boy to try and emulate him till he collapsed after 68 km of the 80-km run.

Mrityunjay Mandal’s nine hours of agony in the stifling heat, which sent him to hospital with severe dehydration, today again highlighted how ambitious parents were ready to play with their children’s lives for a place in the limelight.

Four-year-old slum child Budhia has no father; Mrityunjay’s is an ayurvedic practitioner in Berhampur. Padmacharan Mandal was at his son’s bedside today to justify the run.

“I want my son to compete in the Olympics,” he said. “He may not have finished this run, but one day he will. He is very courageous.”

The Olympic marathon, however, is a third of the distance the boy from Berhampur attempted today.

As Mrityunjay started off from Kalyan’s Durgadi Fort at 4.30 am, a team of municipality doctors accompanied him on vehicles. After he dropped to the ground near the Kemps Corner flyover around 1 pm, organisers Rashtriya Oriya Yuvak Pratishthan wouldn’t take him to hospital immediately.

The boy was treated with ice packs and driven the remaining 12 km to the Gateway of India, the finishing point, to be felicitated. Only then was he taken to the GT Hospital, where doctors said he was stable but needed to be kept under observation for at least 48 hours.

In early May, Budhia had collapsed after completing 65 km of a planned 70-km run from Puri to Bhubaneswar that was widely condemned by doctors. The Orissa government moved court for a ban on the boy running any more “marathons” and Bangalore police stopped him from a repeat act in end-May.

Padmacharan said his son had been a “marathon runner” for the past couple of years and did 65 km in April.

Dr Sudhir Bhoir, the municipal doctor monitoring the boy’s fluid intake and pulse during the run, said: “It was hotter than expected. The humidity got to Mrityunjay. He had hyperthermia (high temperature) and dehydration and felt dizzy.”

The sports medicine specialist, who assists professional marathoners and children attempting swimming records, added that he hadn’t got a chance to examine Mrityunjay before the run or to instruct him on what precautions he should take.

“The boy made just one stop, near the Siddhivinayak temple, for a change of socks which were soaked with sweat. By the time he entered Mumbai city limits at 10 am, he had already slowed down,” said an organiser.

The event was billed an “anti-terrorism” run, held to heal Mumbai’s wounds.