Kolkata Stampede Follow-Up: Seven Organisers and Security Staff Arrested as a Judge-Led Special Probe Begins
Kolkata — Police moved on Sunday to assign responsibility for the stampede at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durga Puja pavilion in north Kolkata on the evening of October 17, which killed 19 people, including a seven-year-old girl, and injured 25. According to ANI, Kolkata Police registered a case and arrested seven people: puja committee secretary Raj Kumar Sewda (48), vice president Santanu Dubey (55), Biplab Mukherjee (48), who was involved in constructing the bamboo structure, Koushik Saha (53) and Pintu Dey (51), who handled crowd control and VIP pass checking, and private security in-charges Suman Chakraborty (30) and Rajesh Pal (29). A further 14 people were detained for questioning. The case stems from a complaint by a sub-inspector of Girish Park police station; heavy rainfall and warnings of a possible collapse are believed to have triggered the crush, and investigators are examining CCTV footage for lapses in crowd management and security.
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said a special investigation team headed by a sitting judge of the Calcutta High Court would examine the disaster, and that he had written to the Chief Justice seeking consent. The state government announced compensation of ₹25 lakh and a Group D government job for the family of each person killed, ₹5 lakh for each injured victim, and full coverage of medical expenses. Prime Minister Narendra Modi separately announced ₹2 lakh from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund for each deceased victim's next of kin and ₹50,000 for each injured person. On Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah joined Adhikari in visiting the injured at hospital. One injured person remains in critical condition, and police have activated helplines 18003455678 and 03322141310 for families.
About 3,500 Durga Puja pavilions were set up across Kolkata for the festival. After the incident, authorities advised several heavily attended venues to close temporarily, and the Chorbagan pavilion remains shut. (GSM, based on ANI, The Hindu BusinessLine, AP and BBC reporting)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 2025 年 10 月加尔各答一座杜尔加女神节祭棚内的女神像资料图（非涉事祭棚）。图：Pramanikshreya，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0（经 Commons API 实查）。
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- 2026-10-19Kolkata Stampede Follow-Up: Seven Organisers and Security Staff Arrested as a Judge-Led Special Probe BeginsThis story
