Kolkata stampede kills 19: Amit Shah visits injured, 7 arrested, including puja organisers

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari visited Apollo Hospital to meet people injured in a stampede at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata on Saturday evening. The incident claimed 19 lives and left 25 people injured after a surge in the crowd amid rain.

Seven people have been arrested in connection with the stampede. Those arrested include the event organiser, a representative of a security agency and an official of an event management company.

Shah and Adhikari reached Apollo Hospital to meet those receiving treatment following the deadly stampede. The visit came after the crowd surge at the north Kolkata pandal left 19 people dead and 25 injured on Saturday evening.

Class 12 student, nurse among victims

A Class 12 student from West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district and a nurse from Hooghly were among those killed in the stampede.

Police officers visited the student’s home and spoke to her family members. Her father, who works as a blouse-cutting artisan, said it was the first time his daughter had travelled to Kolkata for pandal-hopping.

“This was the first time my daughter had gone to Kolkata for pandal-hopping. I don't know what went wrong... I received a call from the police asking me to visit Kolkata Medical College and Hospital,” he told reporters.

Another victim, 27-year-old Sriparna Poddar, lived in Baidyabati in Hooghly district and worked as a nurse at Tata Cancer Hospital.

Poddar had left home for work on Saturday morning and later visited the Chorbagan pandal with her friends, her mother said after reaching Kolkata on Saturday night.

“My daughter worked as a nurse at Tata Cancer Hospital. She had left home for work on Saturday morning and later had gone to Chorbagan with her friends,” she said.

Seven arrested after deadly crowd surge

Police arrested seven people following the stampede, including the organiser, a security agency representative and an official of an event management company. The incident took place amid rain on Saturday evening, when a surge in the crowd at the Durga Puja pandal led to the deaths and injuries.