Bengal CM Suvendu announces Rs 25 lakh compensation for Kolkata stampede victims

Nineteen people died and 25 were injured in a stampede at a Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata. The Bengal government announced compensation for victims’ families and proposed a Special Investigation Team headed by a sitting or retired judge

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday said that of the 19 people who died in the Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal stampede, 18 were from various parts of the state, while one hailed from Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

Emerging from a high-level meeting at Bhawani Bhaban, the state CID headquarters, Adhikari said the bodies of the deceased would be handed over to their family members under the supervision of senior officials following the autopsy.

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“We have assigned magistrate- and DSP-rank officers to hand over the bodies to the respective families. The officers will remain with the families until the cremations are over,” the CM said.

Adhikari said he would personally visit the families of the deceased on October 20 and 21 to offer condolences and hand over compensation cheques of Rs 25 lakh.

“I will try to connect with as many families as possible on those two days. I will travel by road to the residences of family members who live within 50 km of Kolkata and use a helicopter to reach those who live farther away, if the weather permits,” he said.

Nineteen people died and 25 were injured in the stampede at the Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata following a crowd surge amid rain on Saturday evening.

Adhikari also said that personnel from the Kolkata Police, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and fire services department had been excluded from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the stampede, given their potential role in the incident.

The chief minister said Chief Secretary Manoj Agarwal would soon write to Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge, seeking his permission for a sitting High Court judge to head the SIT.

“The team comprises an official from the home department, representatives of the DGP and NDRF, and the state disaster management secretary. If the Chief Justice permits, we will have a sitting judge head the SIT; otherwise, we will settle for a retired judge,” Adhikari said.

Adhikari also said he had sought the list of temporary home guards who were on duty at the Chorbagan puja pandal to scrutinise their role in the stampede.

“These home guards are not new recruits. They were appointed during 2024 and 2025,” he said, adding that one of the home guards he had tried to speak to “could not even understand, let alone speak, Bengali”.