3 die in Bihar stampede

Jitendra K Shrivastava

Tribune News Service

Patna, November 4

Three elderly women were killed in a crowded alley near Simaria Ghat where thousands of devotees had gathered to take a holy dip in the Ganga on the occasion of Kartik Purnima in Begusarai district of Bihar today.

The deceased have been identified as Kanchan Devi from Begusarai, Triveni Devi from Sitamarhi and Shakunti Devi from Darbhanga district of the state.

Expressing grief over the mishap, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased.

“The women died due to suffocation,” said ADG Headquarters Sunil Kumar Singhal, without ruling out the possibility of stampede. “We will reach a final conclusion only after postmortem reports arrive.” 

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad alleged that the stampede took place due to negligence of the administration. Nitish Kumar should take responsibility for the incident. “The state government has failed to take lesson from the boat capsize incident that led to death of scores of people last year,” he added.