Aug. 6 : Fifteen years after Roop Kanwar was forced to commit sati in Rajasthan's Deorala, Guttu Bai plunged into the leaping flames of her husband's pyre as an entire village in Madhya Pradesh erupted in celebration and her two sons stood as spectators. Moments into the incident, the village of timid onlookers in Panna district, about 300 km from Bhopal, worked up a frenzy, dancing, chanting hymns celebrating sati and virtually converting the faceless crematorium into a makeshift temple. After Mallu Nayya, 70, a backward class member of Patnatamoli village, died last night, his widow Guttu declared she would commit sati. A section of villagers from another caste informed Saleha police station, about 8 km away. Deputy superintendent of police S.H. Ghose reached the village with his team even as the pyre was being lit amid beating drums and kirtans. Ghose tried to stop Guttu as she lunged for the pyre after certain rituals. But a couple of hundred villagers helped her wriggle out. The policemen were treated to a shower of stones and brickbats, and Ghose fell unconscious. Guttu Bai's sons did nothing to save their mother. Jaalpur range commissioner B.R. Naidu reached Panna this afternoon. By then, hordes of villagers from neighbouring areas were making a beeline to offer prayers at the 'holy site', shouting 'Sati mata ki jai (Long live goddess Sati)'. 'It is now very difficult for the police or the district administration to take any action. We have cordoned off the area to maintain peace,' the commissioner said. Like Roop Kanwar's Deorala, Patnatamoli was on its way to resembling a fair ground with an air of triumph in the 65-year-old widow's 'sacrifice'. At Deorala in 1987, pictures of Kanwar's wedding and hastily-sketched scenes of her burning did brisk business. The temple built on the pyre flourished, too. But today, amid the stream of outsiders, Patnatamoli wore a deserted look with most residents having fled to escape police action. Additional director-general of police (intelligence) Swaraj Puri admitted that the administration was caught off guard. An incident like this in Panna is unexpected, Puri said. The incident has dealt a blow to the Congress-led state government, headed by Digvijay Singh, considered one of the most 'development-oriented' chief ministers of the party. The chief minister did not make a statement today. The Congress will send a delegation tomorrow for an on-the-spot study.