An announcement, panic, then 19 crushed: Man behind Kolkata's Chor Bagan pandal ‘collapse’ call arrested

Panic triggered by an announcement is suspected to have led to the fatal stampede at the Chor Bagan Durga Puja pandal of West Bengal's Kolkata on October 17. Sanjib Raha, part of the organising committee of the Chor Bagan Durga Puja pandal, was arrested on Thursday for allegedly making the announcement over a loudspeaker that the pandal was about to collapse, triggering panic and the crowd-crush that killed 19 people during Durga Puja celebrations.

Raha was arrested in Nadia and brought to Kolkata.

A surge in crowds amid heavy rain triggered the stampede at one of north Kolkata's most popular Durga Puja venues, as visitors jostled through a narrow bylane on Saptami, the seventh day of the festival.

'Someone announced that pandal was collapsing'

A police officer said that visitors had to use a five-feet-wide and seven-feet-high circular ramp to get a 360-degree view of the idol inside the pandal. "[They had to] climb down the ramp before leaving the pandal. There was no second path."

The officer said the ramp was intact during the police inspection. "It seems people panicked and ran for safety because someone announced that the pandal, of which the ramp was an integral part, was collapsing."

A police officer Raha was identified as the person who made the announcement that triggered the panic. Another person, Kushal Majumdar, was detained for questioning on Friday after inquiries indicated that he too had made announcements on the day of the stampede, HT earlier reported.

"We are still piecing together the course of events that led to the stampede. One of the CCTV footage showed the two [arrested] persons making announcements. They were heard warning revellers that the pandal was collapsing and asking visitors to leave the place immediately. It appeared that the announcements triggered panic and a rush towards the exit point," PTI news agency quoted an officer as saying.

According to the above-mentioned police officer, Raha had switched off his mobile phone. Investigators tracked eight suspected mobile numbers to trace the accused as he was trying to contact family and friends using different numbers, he added.

Probe team identifies narrow exit point, dimly lit path

A six-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the incident also identified a narrow exit point and dimly lit pathway as key areas of concern, even as Raha, the eighth accused in the case, was due to be produced before a court on Friday. With Raha and Majumdar being held, a total nine arrests have been made in the case.

Retired Calcutta high court judge Anindita Roy Saraswati, who heads the SIT, said the stampede did not happen inside the pandal but at its exit point. "We found the lights to be dim, as people had complained," she said outside the pandal on Thursday.

She added that the pandal had been kept in the same condition as it was during the incident. "We have to find out how the whole thing happened and who was responsible," the earlier HT report quoted her as saying.

A police forensic team visited the site on Thursday to create a 3D map, while a drone was deployed to capture aerial videos of the pandal and surrounding roads.

A police officer who inspected the site said the families of those killed and the 25 injured alleged that the emergency gate, otherwise used for VIP movement, was locked. “The exit path used by common visitors was around seven feet wide, which was extremely narrow. The exit route was further narrowed by outdoor units of the air conditioner machines installed inside the pandals and food stalls set up on a road.”

All the accused arrested in the case have been booked under Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and 3(5) (crime committed with common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The seven accused arrested before Raha, including puja committee secretary Raj Kumar Sewda and vice-president Santanu Dubey, were remanded in 10-day police custody.

The stampede has triggered a political row, with opposition parties targeting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which came to power in West Bengal for the first time five months ago. The Mamata All India Trinamool Congress (MAITC) and Left parties have targeted chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, particularly because his nephew, Depdeep Adhikari, was involved in the puja as its patron alongside BJP north Calcutta chief Tamoghna Ghosh and party lawmaker Vijay Ojha.

‘Human error caused incident’, says CM

Suvendu Adhikari visited the families of those killed on Tuesday and Wednesday and distributed compensation. The state government has promised a job to one member of each affected family.

Adhikari said nobody would have died had someone not announced over the loudspeaker that the pandal was about to collapse. "The incident happened because of human error and not because a crowd entered the pandal to take shelter from rain," he said on Wednesday.

MAITC lawmaker Kunal Ghosh alleged that efforts to shield those responsible for the tragedy had begun. "We appeal to the SIT chairperson to question all people associated with the puja after they are taken into police custody. Otherwise, the truth will never be revealed."