A stampede near the Sri Gundicha Temple during Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra in Odisha’s Puri left at least three people dead and over 50 injured. The incident happened early Sunday morning around 4 to 4:30 AM when a large crowd gathered for darshan.Puri Collector Siddharth S. Swain said the rush of devotees suddenly increased, causing the stampede.
The Odisha government has announced Rs 25 lakh as financial aid to the families of the deceased.
An investigation has begun to find out what caused the stampede and if there were any crowd control failures.
Following the incident, the state government has transferred Puri SP Vinit Agarwal and District Magistrate Siddharth Swain. Pinak Mishra will take over as the new SP, and Chanchal Rana will become the new District Magistrate.
Two police officers, DCP Bishnu Pati and Commandant Ajay Padhi, have also been suspended.