Tragedy hit Bareilly during a religious procession when a terrace of a house suddenly caved in due to heavy load killing three persons besides injuring over two dozen others including four who were rushed to lucknow in `critical state’. The incident took place when the victims were witnessing the procession taken out during Chehallum on Wednesday evening. A case has been registered and bodies were sent for post-mortem examination.
Reports said that huge crowd had gathered in the Bairamnagar village under Shergarh Police Station area in Bareilly to witness 'Chehallum procession' on Wednesday evening. local police confirmed that thousands of locals also went on their terraces and balconies to witness the procession. He said that the balcony of Mobin Khan's house in which at least 50 persons were standing suddenly collapsed due to heavy weight.
The cops claimed that several people on the balcony and standing underneath suffered injuries of which Mohd Zakir (25), a native of Bairamnagar died on the spot while two others identified as Sardar Khan (40) and Taslim (20), also native of same placed were killed later in the hospital. The 26 injured were admitted to different hospitals and condition of four, identified as Irshad, Ali Ahmed, Sabir, and Maiser Nabi were said to be critical, the cops said adding that all them were referred to lucknow by the doctors.
The other who were seriously injured included Munnawar, Kushnama, Irshad, Sharief Khan, Sabir Khan, Zakir Hussain, Nanhi, Paras Sharma, Furkat, Nasurudeen, Bhure, Ikrar, Rasheed, Yaseen, Ali Ahmed, Irshad, Yamuddin, Maiser Nabi etc.
It may be mentioned that Chehallum is a Shia Muslim religious observance that occurs forty days after the Day of Ashura. It commemorates the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad, who was killed on the 10th day of the month of Muharram in 680 AD.