Sect chief with 39 wives dies... of exhaustion?

A RELIGIOUS leader with 39 wives has died in India.

Ziona Chana, 76, also had up to 94 children thanks to his role in a polygamous Christian sect called Chana Pwal. With about 167 members in total, the family is thought to be the world’s largest.

They live in a vast, four-storey pink structure with about 100 rooms in Baktawng, a remote village in the northeastern state of Mizoram.

Mr Chana, who had diabetes and high blood pressure, married his first wife at 17 and locals said he liked to have seven or eight wives by his side at all times.

He said in a 2011 interview: ‘I have so many people to care for and look after, and I consider myself a lucky man.’