Kanpur: A day late on August 15 at the Anwarganj area of Kanpur, a promotional sale of clothes, where clothes were sold at Rs 16, had led to chaos and what appeared to be a stampede, which led to police intervention and it has led to criminal cases against the store owners.
It happened at Alam Market when Alam Mart’s owner, Rais Alam, promoted a special discount on social media for their customers’ birthday. The promotion offered and stated in its ads that shoppers could buy any item of clothing for Rs 16 first 16 minutes after midnight on Aug 16.
The sale swiftly took off all across Instagram and Facebook, as well as local social media platforms, creating a large volume of customers that were drawn to the market there. However, later in the evening a large crowd had congregated around the store, leading to a heavy traffic and crowd problem in the neighbourhood.
The store was rumored to be shut because people continued to file the rally. This resulted in customers being angry because they wanted the promised deal to be given to them. There were reportedly quarrels between staff and the crowd which led to panic and disturbance.
Passing through the crowded space, witnesses said there was some pushing and jostling, with some people said to have suffered minor injuries. The videos shared on the internet depicted huge crowds and cops trying to control the situation.
Police from various police stations of Anwarganj and adjoining police station were deployed to disperse the crowd and restore law and order. Subsequent cases were filed against Mohammad Alam, Rais Alam and Salman Alam and others for allegedly putting public safety at risk and inciting public disorder.
Salman Alam has been arrested by police and police sources have been working to trace the other accused persons.