Varanasi stampede: Commission completes 1st round of inquiry

A judicial commission probing the Varanasi stampede today completed its first round of inquiry as it recorded the statements of over 100 people, including eyewitnesses and organisers.
According to sources, the one-man inquiry commission headed by Justice (Retd) Rajmani Chauhan recorded statements of over 100 people, including officials, organisers and villagers, yesterday and today in the Circuit House here.
Eyewitnesses told the commission that the stampede was caused by a rumour that the bridge, which the devotees of Jai Gurudev sect were crossing as part of a religious procession, had collapsed, they said.
The committee will be returning to Varanasi on January 27 to record the statements of those remaining, they added.

The commission was on a three-day visit to Varanasi to probe the stampede that claimed 25 lives and injured over 100 people on October 15 last year.
On Tuesday, Chauhan had visited the stampede spot, Domri and Katesar villages and talked to the locals.

The inquiry commission had summoned nearly 42 officials who were on duty on the day of the incident torecord their statements. It had alsoaskedmembers associated with the sect, who were responsible for organising the religious congregation, to record their statements, sources said.
Some officials had sent their representatives and a few sent theirreplies through email to the commission, they said.

The incident had occurred when the devotees of Jai Gurudev sect were on their way to attend a religious congregation, two km away in village in Chandauli district.
More than a lakh people had participated in the procession that was heading to the religious camp of Jai Gurudev sect. However, permission had been sought only for 3000-5000 people.
The organisers had earlier accused the district administration of poor crowd management and of not being alert when an increasing number of followers were joining the procession.
An FIR was registered against five members of the organising committee were booked for allegedly furnishing false information while seeking permission for taking out procession and holding a two-day camp.