West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has announced that a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by a sitting Calcutta High Court judge, will investigate the stampede at a Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata that killed at least 19 people and injured 25 others.
The SIT will include officials from the Special Task Force (STF), the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and other departments. The stampede took place at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durga Puja pandal on Saturday evening, October 17, amid heavy crowds and rain on Maha Saptami. Adhikari announced ₹ 25 lakh in compensation and a Group D government job for the family of each person who died in the stampede. Those injured will receive ₹ 5 lakh each, and the state government will cover their full treatment costs at a hospital of their choice.
Adhikari said the state government would write to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to nominate a sitting judge to head the probe. The chief minister said authorities were examining CCTV footage to establish what happened and identify those responsible for any crowd-management failures.
Their detention does not establish responsibility for the incident. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced financial assistance of ₹ 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for the next of kin of each deceased person. Those injured will receive ₹ 50,000.
Officials had detained some puja committee members, private security guards and personnel on duty, according to the chief minister. Union Home Minister Amit Shah postponed his scheduled programmes and said he would visit the injured.
