Seven devotees died in a stampede at Baba Sidheshwar Nath temple in Bihar’s Jehanabad district. The incident occurred last night when the administration used force to control the crowd, resulting in death of seven including three women.
While, at least 35 others suffered injuries, authorities have denied of any negligence. Town Inspector, Jehanabad, Diwakar Kumar Vishwakarma said the seven dead bodies have arrived at the Jehanabad Post-mortem Hose.
Some local residents have blamed poor crowd management and police lathi charge for the incident. “There had been common routes for people visiting the temple and returning from there. As a number of devotees started swelling ahead of onset of the fourth Monday of Saawan month, police could not manage the crowd and instead opened lathi charge that might have caused the stampede”, said Suman Kumar, relative of an injured kanwariya.
A devotee present at the temple said the volunteers resorted to lathi-charge after a fight erupted involving a flower-seller. This led to the stampede, he said, claiming there was no one from the administration.
Jehanabad District Magistrate Alankrita Pandey said: ‘We confirm seven deaths. We are looking into cause of the incident. We are getting the injured treated at the Jehanabad hospital”.
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