Kathmandu, Feb. 26:Can a human body discharge electric current? The question may sound farfetched. However, a Kamal Bhandari from Western Nepal’s Bardiya – currently living in Baneshwor – has been giving the feel of an electric shock to hundreds of people since February 22.

A hardware shop owner, Bhandari realised Tuesday that his body gave off electric current. “I felt a shock on Tuesday morning when I passed a metal box to a boy. The boy said that he got a shock too. I took it simply. But my sister told me in the afternoon that she also experienced a shock out of my touch. Then it was confirmed that my body was discharging current.”

The case was both a matter of surprise and fun in the family for a couple of days. By Saturday, it became an issue of public concern. Surrounded by curious visitors, the Bachelor degree holder said that  he gave a feel of current to about 1,000 people only today. People wonder when Bhandari’s touch to a metallic object produces sparks.

Bhandari, 35, said that he consulted a doctor on Wednesday and was told that everything in him was normal. He said that had not experienced any biological problems. The doctor told him that the human body like any other object possessed ‘static current’. The discharge begins once it exceeds a certain limit.

Executive Director of National Forensic Science Lab Dr. Sewak Ram Bhandari said that a human body discharging electric current was not something unusual. All the objects as well as living beings possess ‘static current’. An object gets electrically charged when it is in friction with another.

Bhandari said that his body discharged current only when he wore shoes. The reason may be that the earth absorbs the current once he puts his shoes off. And the discharge is said to be higher during the sunshine. “It might be due to the ionic element in sunlight,” said Dr. Bhandari. The ionic element, according to Dr. Bhandari, works as a charger.