A tragic stampede occurred at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durga Puja pandal, resulting in 19 fatalities and multiple injuries.
KOLKATA: Seven people, including the secretary and vice-president of the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durgotsab Samity, have been arrested in connection with the stampede at the Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata that left 19 people dead and 25 hospitalised. Those arrested include Raj Kumar Sewda, alias Raja (48), the puja committee’s secretary, and Santanu Dubey (55), its vice-president. The other accused are Biplab Mukherjee, alias Joy (48), who was involved in constructing the bamboo structure at the pandal; Koushik Saha (53), who was responsible for crowd control and checking VIP passes; Pintu Dey (51), who was engaged in crowd management; and private security in-charges Suman Chakraborty (30) and Rajesh Pal (29).
West Bengal minister Umesh Rai, who visited Calcutta Medical College and Hospital to meet the injured, said the SIT would examine the circumstances of the incident and identify those responsible for any negligence. We are forming an SIT, which will investigate the entire incident and the circumstances in which it occurred,” Rai said. Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said preliminary information received from the assistant commissioner of police present at the spot suggested that an announcement made by a private security agency and the blowing of whistles may have triggered the incident. This is a very, very sad incident,” he said.
“This is a very tragic accident. The puja committee members and the security agencies have been detained. All kind of support will be provided to all families.
“As a chief minister, I can’t give a statement before the investigation is over, but I assure that proper investigation will be done with full transparency. The chief minister had called for action against those responsible yesterday.
The case was registered at Girish Park police station under Sections 105, 110 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the organisers and others.A forensic team visited the site, while police began questioning puja committee members, security personnel and police officers to establish the sequence of events leading to the stampede.
Kolkata Police have registered a suo motu case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in connection with the stampede, an officer said. The state government has constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the tragedy, with investigators examining possible lapses in crowd management and security arrangements.