Chorbagan pandal stampede: Mismanagement, confusing announcements led to mishap, say Kolkata Police

Relatives of victims killed in a stampede at the Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal gather outside a mortuary, in Kolkata, on October 18, 2026. | Photo Credit: PTI

Lack of crowd management and misleading announcements following a sudden downpour during Saptami celebrations may have triggered panic among visitors, leading to a stampede at the Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata, a senior police officer said on Sunday (October 18, 2026).

Circumstantial evidence, along with accounts from locals and eyewitnesses, suggests that inadequate crowd control contributed to the incident at the pandal on Saturday (October 17, 2026) evening, he said.

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Police also found that the number of police personnel and private security guards deployed at the venue was inadequate, worsening the situation.

"We have gathered sufficient evidence pointing to gross mismanagement by the puja organisers. There was no clear plan to manage the large number of visitors, and everything was handled verbally. We have collected CCTV camera footage, recorded accounts from locals and eyewitnesses, and corroborated our findings. Security personnel were inadequate," the police officer told PTI.