Stampede during Pandit Pradeep Mishra's religious discourse in UP's Meerut; women and elderly trapped
At least 1,00,000 people had gathered for the event, and as the religious discourse began, people rushed to enter the venue
PTC Web Desk: A stampede broke out during Pandit Pradeep Mishra's religious discourse (katha) in Meerut on Friday, leading to several women falling and elderly people getting trapped. The incident occurred as large crowds gathered for the katha, which is in its sixth day today, with the final day scheduled for tomorrow. The Katha session started at 1 pm.
At least 1,00,000 people had gathered for the event, and as the religious discourse began, people rushed to enter the venue. Security personnel, including bouncers, attempted to control the crowd as it swelled, but the situation quickly escalated into chaos, resulting in the stampede. The ongoing Katha, being
As per available information, the path leading to the venue, which was also used by the main priests, became congested. As the bouncers stopped women from entering at the entry gate, the crowd pushed forward from behind, causing chaos. In the commotion, 15-20 women fell one by one. It was reported that two stampedes occurred during the day. The first one took place at 9.30 am when people were rushing to get VIP passes. This stampede was resolved, but another occurred later at 1 pm when the crowd intensified as the religious discourse began.
Notably on July 2, in a similar incident, a stampede broke out after a religious gathering of Bhole Baba in Sikandra Rao, Hathras, leaving 123 dead and over 150 others injured. Following the incident, the main organiser, Dev Prakash Madhukar, along with 10 others, was arrested by the police. A charge sheet of 3,200 pages was filed against 11 accused, but the name of Bhole Baba was not included in the charges.
More details are awaited