Women heading for the exit of the Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal held back to protect their clothes and make-up from sudden rain, the crowd swelled, people jostled and 19 of them died in the crush, Kolkata Police's preliminary findings say, as the investigation turns to crowd management and staffing failures.
The stampede occurred around 7:30 pm on October 17 at the pandal in a narrow north Kolkata lane. "According to preliminary findings, several women had gathered near the gate, with some reluctant to leave the pandal fearing that the rain would spoil their attire and makeup. As the crowd swelled, people jostled, causing several visitors to stumble over one another," an officer said. The first fall occurred about 11 feet from the exit gate.
Investigators are examining whether enough women volunteers and police personnel had been deployed, whether word of the congestion reached the administration in time, and whether delays in inter-agency coordination slowed the response. The security agency hired by the organisers had portable 'Manpack' radio equipment, and police are checking where its personnel were posted, whether they were alerted and what they did.
Nine people have been arrested so far, including two for allegedly triggering chaos by announcing that a portion of the pandal was collapsing. Police may seek court permission to collect the voice samples of the accused, and the pandal's artist has been questioned.
On Thursday, Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee demanded that the top functionaries of the puja committee be taken into custody for questioning, asking why 12 days after the deaths they had not been called in.
Banerjee named BJP MLA Vijay Ojha as chairman, BJP district president Tamoghna Ghosh as chief advisor and Devdeep Adhikari as chief patron of the organising committee, and questioned whether political connections were influencing the probe. "The responsibility for so many deaths cannot be avoided with the arrest of some minions," he said in a social media post, warning that those shielding the accused would have to answer for it.
The state government has set up a six-member Special Investigation Team headed by retired Calcutta High Court judge Justice Anindita Roy Saraswati to inquire into the incident and make recommendations. (With inputs from PTI and media reports)