Scores thronged the historic Rajpath to mark the celebration of the 65th Republic Day on Sunday despite the winter chill and foggy morning, not knowing the hassle that awaited them. Chaos and panic erupted even before reaching the venue.
The crowd complained of being misguided by police and security personnel as it ran pell-mell to reach the allotted seats while several others had to return disappointed after being refused entry. While public could be seen jostling its way in from some gates, police had closed a few entry points keeping even the VIP card holders waiting for nearly an hour. The crowd, a majority of which came from distant places to watch the parade, got impatient after being denied entry by police and tried to push its way in which created an a near stampede-like situation. Police officials however, maintained there was no space since the venue was already chock-full.