7 Including 3 Women Dead, 30 Injured In Stampede At Bihar Temple

Patna: Seven devotees, including three women, lost their lives in a stampede at a temple in Bihar’s Jehanabad district on Sunday night.

At least 30 others were injured in the stampede that occurred at the Baba Sidheshwar Nath temple on Baravar hills. The injured are being treated at the local Makhdumpur and Sadar hospitals.

The devotees had gathered at the temple for the annual rituals held during the holy month of Shravan.

As per reports, it is alleged that this stampeded happened when volunteers engaged in crowd management used ‘lathis’ on the devotees.

Eyewitnesses said, the volunteers resorted to lathi-charge after a fight erupted involving a flower-seller. But Vikash Kumar, sub-divisional officer (SDO), Jehanabad denied that volunteers used lathis to control the crowd.

Jehanabad district collector, Alankrita Pandey told PTI that the stampede was a fallout of a dispute among kanwariyas that had led to a scuffle.