Kolkata Puja crush: Seven arrested, High Court judge to head probe into 19 deaths

Kolkata Police have arrested seven people, two of them senior office-bearers of the organising committee, over the Kolkata Durga Puja crush on the evening of 17 October at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin pandal in the north of the city, which killed 19 people and injured 25. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has ordered an inquiry to be led by a sitting judge of the Calcutta High Court.

The tragedy took place on Saptami, 17 October, in the Girish Park area. Heavy rain was falling and a thick crowd of visitors had built up at the pandal’s only entry and exit point, which was marked off with a rope, when the crowd surged. Exactly how the surge began is still under investigation.

Who has been arrested

Police filed a case on their own initiative at Girish Park police station on 18 October, invoking provisions on culpable homicide. The seven held are the committee’s secretary, Raj Kumar Sewda, 48; its vice-president, Santanu Dubey, 55; Biplab Mukherjee, 48, who built the pandal’s bamboo frame; Koushik Saha, 53, and Pintu Dey, 51, who handled crowd control; and Suman Chakraborty, 30, and Rajesh Pal, 29, of a private security agency. Several others were detained for questioning. A court has remanded the seven in police custody until 28 October.

An inquiry without the city police

The state will request the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to nominate a serving judge to head a special investigation team. Its members will be drawn from the home department, the office of the state police chief, the National Disaster Response Force and the disaster management department. Kolkata Police, the fire and emergency services and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation have been left out, as their own roles in permissions and safety will come under scrutiny.

The government announced Rs 25 lakh and a government job for the family of each person who died, and Rs 5 lakh for each of the injured. VIP passes for pandal visits have also been withdrawn. Union Home Minister Amit Shah called off his Puja engagements in the city and visited the injured at Apollo hospital on 18 October before leaving Kolkata.

Political row over the committee

The deaths have set off a political dispute. The Trinamool Congress has pointed to the committee’s links with the BJP, which took over its running after the change of government, and has questioned the role of Debdeep Adhikari, a relative of the Chief Minister listed as its chief patron. Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh demanded the arrest of Jorasanko BJP MLA Vijay Ojha, whom the party describes as the committee’s chairman. BJP leader Ritesh Tiwari said being associated with a committee did not by itself make anyone responsible, while state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya declined to comment.

A warning for Dasara crowds

The crush comes as the festival season peaks in the Telugu states, with Vijayadashami falling on 20 October. Devotees in large numbers climb Indrakeeladri in Vijayawada for darshan of Goddess Kanaka Durga during Dasara, and Bathukamma and Dasara celebrations draw big crowds across Telangana. The Kolkata Durga Puja crush shows how quickly a single narrow entry, sudden rain and a crowd pushing from behind can turn a festival into a disaster, and why separate entry and exit routes and adequate stewards on the ground matter.

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