The drinking water stall set up on a footpath near a Kalachowki mandal where the deaths occurred
“Crowds were moving in both directions. people could have come in contact with the stall and the accumulated water While jostling for space. The resident blamed police for inadequate crowd control measures this year. “Crowds surged to such an extent that barricades on the footpath broke.
Till last year, entry into Dattaram Lad Marg from B A Ambedkar Road used to be blocked but it wasn’t done this year.”
The 33-year-old was running the stall with her husband. Balraj, the husband of the 33-year-old victim, Sujata Thodeti, was away at the time of the tragedy. Sections 106 (1) (causing a person’s death by a rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide) and 125 (b) (rash or negligent act that endangers human life or personal safety and results in grievous hurt) have been invoked against the stall owner.
The relatives of the eight-year-old victim, Raghini Yadav, said many panicking bystanders fell on top of her. Raghini had come to the city recently from Gorakhpur, UP, for her mother’s medical treatment for a thyroid ailment, said her father, Ghanshyam, a heavy vehicle driver. He said he later decided to check at hospitals. “I was told one woman was taken to Gleneagles Hospital.
An FIR was lodged against its owner, Kamal Shetty. Fire brigade officials suspect that a portion of the stall’s frame was damaged while the crowd jostled for space on the narrow Dattaram Lad Marg, likely leaving a wire exposed. Water had also accumulated on a tarpaulin sheet near the stall. The road was so crowded that ambulances could not enter it. Before heading back, their relatives in Mankhurd decided to take the children to Lalbaug for darshan. Ghanshyam was not with the group. He rushed back to the site after getting word but wasn’t allowed to enter the area despite his pleas. That is where I found Sujata.
“When our officers reached the spot, it was revealed that the unauthorised line to the stall was drawn without our knowledge or approval.
We are questioning the mandal’s organisers and are probing the case, said a senior BEST official who was at the site. Had the mandal informed us or sought permission for the stall connection, safety protocols and load checks would have been enforced,” said Trushna Vishwasrao, BEST committee chairperson.