Police have registered a suo motu case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and arrested seven people, including two office-bearers of the Chorbagan Durga Puja committee, over Saturday night’s stampede at a north Kolkata pandal. Heavy rain was falling when the crush killed 19 people and left 24 injured.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said a judicial inquiry would be led either by a sitting judge, if the chief justice agrees, or by a retired judge, and promised to make its findings public. He also announced Rs 5 lakh in compensation for every injured person and said each victim’s body would be escorted home by a magistrate-rank officer and a DSP-rank officer.
The tragedy occurred at about 7.30pm on Saptami. An announcement reportedly warned that the pandal’s structure could collapse, and visitors rushed toward the exits. Several people fell on the stairs near the exit and were trampled. One of the 24 injured is still in critical condition.
Those arrested are committee secretary Rajkumar Seoda, vice-president Shantanu Dubey, Biplab Mukhopadhyay, who was responsible for erecting the bamboo structure, crowd managers Kaushik Saha and Pintu De, and Suman Chakraborty and Rajesh Pal, employees of a private security agency. A special investigation team is going through CCTV footage and witness statements to find out who made the announcement and what prompted it.
A senior Kolkata police officer said investigators had enough evidence of serious mismanagement by the organisers, who had no clear plan for handling the crowds and relied entirely on verbal instructions. Residents spoke of panic and weak crowd control. Ramji Sau said the stampede began when organisers started announcing that the pandal might cave in, while Beauty Naskar alleged that police and volunteers were almost absent, and that some young volunteers were looking at their phones.
Adhikari said temporary home guards stationed along the ropes dividing entry and exit routes left their posts once the rain started. He has told police across Bengal to inspect major pandals, limit entry where necessary and enforce safety rules.
Nine IPS officers who have earlier served with Kolkata police have been deployed on puja duty in the city. Police have been told to keep exits clear, improve lighting, keep crowds moving, and carry ropes, guardrails and loudspeakers.
Across the city, puja committees rushed to tighten safety by improving lighting, adding volunteers and fire tenders, clearing exits and capping the number of people allowed inside. Santosh Mitra Square introduced staggered entry and more volunteers, and Thakurpukur SB Park reduced its limit from 200-250 people to around 100 at a time.
On Sunday, long queues still formed at popular pandals such as Md Ali Park and College Square, though some visitors said they rethought their plans after relatives urged them to stay away from crowded spots.
