Kolkata, Oct 23 The Durga idol of Chorbagan Sarbojanin will be immersed at Nimtala Ghat here on Saturday under strict police supervision, even as the investigation into the stampede that claimed 19 lives continues, a senior officer said.
The immersion has been cleared by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted under the supervision of the Calcutta High Court, which has directed that the puja pandal be preserved in its existing condition for the investigation.
“There will be a good number of policemen accompanying the idol during its immersion tomorrow,” the officer told PTI on Friday.
Earlier, Kolkata Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Nand said the puja committee had sought permission for the immersion and that it would have to be completed within the stipulated time and in accordance with prescribed guidelines.
The tragedy took place on the evening of Mahasaptami on October 17 when an announcement that the pandal was collapsing allegedly triggered panic and a rush among visitors, resulting in the deaths of 19 people.
Incidentally, SIT head and retired Judge Anindita Roy Saraswati said on Thursday that there was no objection to the immersion, provided the pandal was preserved in its existing condition for the investigation.
A portion of the structure may have to be dismantled to facilitate the removal of the idol, with the work being carried out under police supervision.
According to a well-placed source in Kolkata Police, forensic experts investigating the incident have reportedly raised concerns about the adequacy of the air-conditioning and ventilation systems amid the heavy crowd.
“They have suggested that the 134-tonne air-conditioning system might have been sufficient had the pandal been less crowded or crowd movement better controlled,” he said.
Preliminary post-mortem findings reportedly indicated asphyxia as the cause of death, prompting further scrutiny of the ventilation arrangements and the movement of visitors inside the pandal, the officer said, adding that the area around the pandal has remained cordoned off since the incident as investigators continue to examine the circumstances that led to the deaths.
Meanwhile, police have arrested two announcers associated with the puja committee, taking the total number of arrests to nine. While Sanjib Raha, alias Sentu, was arrested in Nadia on Thursday, Kushal Majumdar was apprehended in the city’s Girish Park area on Friday.
Majumdar’s Facebook page subsequently carried a handwritten note explaining why he had announced that the pandal was collapsing, raising questions about how posts were being published from his account after his arrest.
“Majumdar would not have had the opportunity to publish the posts after being taken into custody,” the policeman said, further suggesting that an acquaintance or relative might have uploaded them.
In the note, Majumdar claimed that he had been associated with the puja for 20 years and apologised on behalf of the committee members for the tragedy.
He also claimed that he had visited the club, which organised the puja, shortly before the incident, when senior and junior officers of Girish Park police station were present. According to his account, he and another committee member went to fetch tea for the officers before returning to their work at the club.
Around 10-15 minutes later, they heard a noise, following which the officers left the club, he claimed.
Majumdar said Kabir, the son of the puja committee’s secretary, subsequently informed him that the rear portion of the pandal had collapsed.
“I was about to leave when a police officer told us to announce on the public address system. When I went to the front, the person who had been making announcements was no longer there,” Majumdar wrote, claiming that he had to announce without prior experience.
He said he had asked the police to block access to the pandal before making the announcement.
“Since Kabir had said that the rear portion of the pandal had collapsed, I said, ‘Do not enter the pandal’,” the note said, adding that the loudspeaker was directed towards Central Avenue, Muktaram Babu Street, Amar Basu Sarani and Parbati Ghosh Lane, rather than towards the interior of the pandal or the adjoining ground.
The claims made in the note could not be independently verified.
(PTI News)
