Puri stampede probe report submitted to CM Majhi
PTI
Bhubaneswar, Jul 31 (PTI) Odisha Development Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary Anu Garg on Thursday submitted the inquiry report into the June 29 stampede near Sri Gundicha Temple in Puri that claimed three lives and left several others injured during Rath Yatra.
The report, submitted to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, comes exactly within the 30-day deadline set for the probe.
An official said Garg held different public hearing sessions in Bhubaneswar and Puri before preparing her final report.
Apart from the hearing sessions, Garg took note of CCTV footage, video clips, still pictures of the incident, the official said, adding that the development commissioner prepared the report after holding discussions with different stakeholders like the police, administration, servitors, victim families and others.
Three persons, including two women, were killed and over 50 others injured in the stampede near Shree Gundicha Temple in Puri during a ceremony related to the Rath Yatra festivities.
The incident took place around 4.20 am on June 29 when thousands of devotees had gathered near the chariots parked in front of the temple.
The Gundicha Temple, located around 3km from the 12th century shrine, is the aunt's house of Lord Jagannath and his siblings Subhadra and Balabhadra.
In the aftermath, the state government initiated a probe to examine crowd management protocols and emergency response measures.
Garg was also suggested to make recommendations on how to avoid such incidents in future, an official said.
Immediately after the stampede, Majhi announced and ex gratia of Rs 25 lakh each for the next of kin of deceased persons identified as — Basanti Sahu (36) from Bolagarh, and Premakant Mohanty (80) and Pravati Das (42) from Balipatna.
The government also removed the Puri collector and the SP and suspended two police officers for dereliction of duty.
Though the details of Garg's findings and recommendations are yet be made public, the report will help the government understand the lapses and implement measures for the safety of devotees in future. PTI AAM AAM MNB
view comments
First Published:
July 31, 2025, 21:15 IST
Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hans India
12 minutes ago
- Hans India
BJP was never mum on Prajwal Revanna case, says Union Minister Pralhad Joshi
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Sunday said the BJP was never silent on former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, who got life imprisonment in a rape case. The leader said the BJP has always maintained that whoever commits a crime should be punished. "There is a law in the country and whoever has done mistake or has committed crime, the court has examined and court has given the verdict. It has to be accepted by everybody," Joshi told reporters. When he was told that Congress leaders are alleging that the BJP is keeping mum on the issue because of its Alliance with the JD(S), he said, "Where have we kept mum and why we have to keep mum? I have already spoken on it. If somebody does something wrong he has to face action." "Are there not people in the Congress Party who committed heinous crime like this and they were with the Congress Party previously? They were with the Prime Minister. Yasin Malik was with the then Prime Minister. There are many people. I don't want to name much people," Joshi charged. The former Hassan MP was on Saturday sentenced to prison term for the remainder of his life, while the court slapped an overall fine of Rs 11.50 lakh on him, directing that Rs 11.25 lakh of it be paid to the victim woman, a domestic help of the accused family. The court had on Friday convicted the 34-year-old grandson of former Prime Minister and JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda in one of the four sexual abuse and rape cases against him. The BJP and the JD(S) are alliance partners and its state president H D Kumaraswamy is a Union Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi led central government. Regarding the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi's proposed agitation in Bengaluru on August 5, the Minister wondered what the protest was about. He said whenever Congress wins elections, it never complains but it blames Electronic Voting Machines or the Election Commission itself for losing polls.
NDTV
15 minutes ago
- NDTV
Massive Crackdown Over Rs 200-Crore Front-Running Scam Linked To Axis Mutual Fund
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted extensive searches across multiple cities over the past two days as part of a widening probe into an alleged front-running scam involving Axis Mutual Fund. The searches were carried out in Delhi, Mumbai, Gurugram, Ludhiana, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Bhuj, and Kolkata under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The investigation stems from a December 2024 FIR filed by Mumbai Police against Viresh Gangaram Joshi, the then fund manager and chief dealer at Axis Mutual Fund. Described as the key conspirator in the case, he was arrested on August 2 and has been sent to ED custody till August 8. According to the ED, Mr Joshi misused confidential trade information from Axis Mutual Fund between 2018 and 2021 to execute trades in advance through proxy accounts, generating massive illicit profits. These acts allegedly cheated retail and institutional investors of the fund, which manages assets worth over Rs 2 lakh crore. ED officials revealed that Mr Joshi operated from a terminal in Dubai, using mule trading accounts sourced from various brokers. Further investigations have uncovered a network of traders and brokers who also exploited pre-trade data, generating over Rs 200 crore in illegal profits. The illicit gains were routed through several shell companies and bank accounts linked to the accused and their family members. During the raids, the ED froze assets including shares, mutual fund holdings, and bank balances worth Rs 17.4 crore. Front-running is a serious securities fraud in which insiders trade using non-public client information for personal gain, undermining market fairness and investor confidence.
Time of India
24 minutes ago
- Time of India
BJP was never mum on Prajwal Revanna case, says union minister Pralhad Joshi
Pralhad Joshi (left), Prajwal Revanna (ANI) Union minister Pralhad Joshi on Sunday said the BJP was never silent on former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, who got life imprisonment in a rape case. The leader said the BJP has always maintained that whoever commits a crime should be punished. "There is a law in the country and whoever has done mistake or has committed crime, the court has examined and court has given the verdict. It has to be accepted by everybody," Joshi told reporters. When he was told that Congress leaders are alleging that the BJP is keeping mum on the issue because of its Alliance with the JD(S), he said, "Where have we kept mum and why we have to keep mum? I have already spoken on it. If somebody does something wrong he has to face action." "Are there not people in the Congress Party who committed heinous crime like this and they were with the Congress Party previously? They were with the Prime Minister. Yasin Malik was with the then Prime Minister. There are many people. I don't want to name much people," Joshi charged. The former Hassan MP was on Saturday sentenced to prison term for the remainder of his life, while the court slapped an overall fine of Rs 11.50 lakh on him, directing that Rs 11.25 lakh of it be paid to the victim woman, a domestic help of the accused family. The court had on Friday convicted the 34-year-old grandson of former Prime Minister and JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda in one of the four sexual abuse and rape cases against him. The BJP and the JD(S) are alliance partners and its state president H D Kumaraswamy is a union minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi led central government. Regarding the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi's proposed agitation in Bengaluru on August 5, the minister wondered what the protest was about. He said whenever Congress wins elections, it never complains but it blames electronic voting machines or the election commission itself for losing polls.
