In a major update, Chief Minister Suvdendu Adhikari said that a stage announcement warning people to leave the pandal as it may collapse had triggered panic at the Chor Bagan Durga Puja event in Kolkata, which resulted in a deadly stampede that claimed the lives of 19 people while leaving several others injured on Saturday evening.
According to the Kolkata Police, the management stated in the announcement that the condition of the pandal was bad and could result in collapse as the crowd tried to enter through a narrow bylane.
As it was raining, the streets had turned slippery. Speaking to the media on Saturday evening, Adhikari said, "Preliminary investigation has revealed that it was an announcement by the organisers which led to the stampede-like situation and resulted in so many deaths."
The crowd surged after the rain started as eyewitnesses said that people on the streets rushed to the pandal to take shelter.
As people thronged both the entry and exit points, the announcement reportedly worsened the situation. In a moment of haste, people slipped and fell over each other, triggering the tragedy.
Inadequate crowd control is also said to be a contributing factor in the stampede, as circumstantial evidence, locals' and witnesses' accounts suggested.
The cops have found police personnel and private security guards' deployment at the venue to be inadequate, worsening the situation.
"We have gathered sufficient evidence pointing to gross mismanagement by the puja organisers. There was no clear plan to manage the large number of visitors, and everything was handled verbally. We have collected CCTV camera footage, recorded accounts from locals and eyewitnesses, and corroborated our findings. Security personnel were inadequate," the police officer told news agency PTI.
The West Bengal government has now directed a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the matter and seven people, including the organisers, have been arrested. An FIR against organisers has also been registered over culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The arrested persons include puja committee secretary Raj Kumar Sewda alias Raja (48), vice president Santanu Dubey (55), Biplab Mukherjee alias Joy (48), who was involved in constructing the bamboo structure, Koushik Saha (53) and Pintu Dey (51), who were involved in crowd control and VIP pass checking, and private security in-charges Suman Chakraborty (30) and Rajesh Pal (29).
ALSO READ: Kolkata Durga Puja Stampede Update: Death Toll At 19, Organisers Among 7 Arrested; SIT Probe Ordered
Another tragedy averted
Meanwhile, another major accident was narrowly averted on the evening of Maha Saptami at the famous Chetla Agrani Puja pandal in South Kolkata. The number of devotees inside the pandal suddenly increased unexpectedly, creating a situation of extreme pressure.
Anticipating the danger in time, the organisers and the deployed police force acted swiftly. They immediately barred entry to the pandal for new devotees and safely evacuated those inside without any further panic. Similar situation of heavy surge due to rainfall was witnessed at the scene but alertness saved harm.