At least 79 people died in last week’s stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in India, far exceeding the toll of 30 claimed by the provincial government, an investigation by a news outlet has found.
The government in northern Uttar Pradesh state, run by Narendra Modi’s BJP party, has been facing criticism for mismanaging the Hindu religious festival in Prayagraj and accused of covering up the death toll from the stampede, with opposition leaders demanding transparency and accountability.
The state’s chief minister, a Hindu monk called Yogi Adityanath, has been under fire for his administration’s delayed response to the tragedy on 29 January and his failure to release casualty figures promptly.
While his government has since ordered an investigation, it has not revised the initial toll.
An investigation by independent news outlet Newslaundry found the actual toll was far higher. A senior government official gave the outlet a list containing the names of 69 people who had reportedly been brought dead from the Kumbh to the Motilal Nehru Medical College in Prayagraj. At least 66 of the bodies had been handed over to their families by 3 February while three remained unidentified.
Ten of these victims were men and the rest women. The bodies were stored in a large freezer space, instead of the mortuary, the same facility used after a 2013 Kumbh stampede. None of the corpses were taken for postmortem, the outlet found, raising further questions about the government’s handling of the tragedy.
“The responsibility for postmortems lies with the police,” Newslaundry quoted a state official as saying. “The hospital only carries them out upon police request, but the administration wanted to send the bodies home as soon as possible.”
Relatives were provided with free ambulances, accompanied by police personnel, to take away the bodies. They were given receipts to claim the bodies as well, but two such receipts reviewed by the news outlet did not carry a date.
Further discrepancies were found at the Swaroop Rani Hospital in Prayagraj where a bulletin board initially listed seven dead and 36 injured. The list had been taken down the next day.
Records examined by Newslaundry at a nearby station suggested six unidentified bodies had been brought to the hospital from the Kumb grounds. While two were the same as on the hospital’s list, one person had died at 10.27pm, taking the tally to 10.
Taken together with the 69 fatalities recorded at the Motilal Nehru Medical College, the death toll from the Maha Kumbh stampede rises to at least 79.
The official count of 30 deaths has also been met with scepticism from opposition leaders.
Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav accused the Adityanath government of hiding the true figures and mishandling the situation. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, the lower chamber of the parliament, he alleged that earthmovers and tractors were used to clear away bodies.
“Footwear and clothing were scattered at the scene and JCB machines and tractor trolleys were used to remove the dead,” Mr Yadav, a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, said. “When this sparked outrage, the government scrambled to cover it up.”
He demanded that “the figures for deaths, injured individuals, medical facilities, food, water, and transport should be disclosed in the parliament” of India.
Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the main opposition Congress party, caused an uproar in the parliament by claiming “thousands” of people had died at the Kumbh, prompting upper house chairperson Jagdeep Dhankar to demand that he authenticate the number or withdraw the statement. “This is my estimate and if this is not right, you should tell what the truth is,” Mr Kharge said, addressing the government.
Trinamool Congress member Saugata Roy called the stampede one of the worst tragedies of independent India.
The ruling BJP, however, downplayed the incident. Senior MP Hema Malini described the stampede as a minor event. “We visited the Kumbh, everything was well-managed,” she said. “It is true that the incident happened, but it wasn’t that big. It is being exaggerated.”
Mr Adityanath, meanwhile, claimed on Tuesday that the stampede was a conspiracy and threatened strict action against anyone found responsible.
The Independent has contacted the Uttar Pradesh government for comment.
