UP Stampede toll rises to 25, 7 suspended

Five police officials and two civil officials have been suspended in Varanasi after they were found prima facie guilty of “gross negligence” that led to the stampede in the holy city on Saturday.

The suspended officials include SP city Sudhakar Yadav, SP (traffic) Kamal Kishore, circle officer (CO) Rahul Misra and the in charge of Ram Nagar and Mughalsarai police stations.

Additional district magistrate (ADM) (city) Vindhyavasini Raj and city magistrate B.B. Singh posted in Varanasi have also been suspended for dereliction of duty, an official spokesman said here. The death toll in the stampeded has risen to 25.

UP DGP Javeed Ahmad said, “Gross failure to anticipate the swelling crowd and make adequate arrangements accordingly has led to the suspension of these five officers”.

Action against five officials was initiated on the basis of the preliminary report of the principal secretary (home) and the DGP who visited Varanasi on Saturday evening.

Principal home secretary Debashish Panda told reporters that there were lapses in terms of crowd management.

He said that the process of identification of the 25 deceased was under way and arrangements have been made to send the bodies to the families as some of those killed belong to far-flung areas outside of the state.

He said that photographs of the bodies had been sent to the event organizers and the various camps where devotees are staying.

The event which was held to mark the anniversary of a religious leader Jai Gurudev and for which the devotees had come in large number, ended on Sunday with a prayer meeting for the stampede victims.