The Madhya Pradesh High Court's Gwalior Bench on Tuesday issued a directive for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into Datia district's Ratangarh stampede that claimed 115 lives on the occasion of 'Navmi' last month.
Hearing a petition filed by Right to Information (RTI) activist Gaurav Pandey, a division bench of Justice SK Gangele and Justice GD Saxena ruled that the CBI be directed to investigate into the matter. The court contended that a CBI investigation would not affect ongoing judicial probe into the matter. Petitioner's counsel Avdhesh Singh Bhadoria and Dharmendra Sharma told the court that the Madhya Pradesh Government had ordered a judicial probe into the matter.
However, it had not disclosed the contents of a judicial probe into an earlier mishap on the same spot that took place in 2006 in which over 50 pilgrims were washed away. The petitioner alleged that police and administrative authorities are destroying the evidence and trying to shield guilty officials. Additional Advocate General MPS Raghuvanshi confirmed that the court had directed a CBI probe into the stampede and instructed to fix the responsibility of officials concerned.
Meanwhile, PCC Chief Kantilal Bhuria and MP election puyblicity committee chairman Premchand Guddu have claimed that they had earlier demanded CBI probe in the incident, but the State Government overlooked it. Both the leaders further stated that they had also demanded resignation from Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra. Notably, at least 115 people were killed and several injured in a stampede on a narrow bridge leading to the Ratangarh temple in Datia district on the occasion of 'Navmi' during Navratri.