Kolkata stampede: Girish Park police OC removed after 19 deaths

Sumit Kumar Ghosh, Officer-in-Charge of Girish Park Police Station, has been removed from his post following a stampede at a Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata that claimed 19 lives. Seven accused have been remanded to police custody.

Police Officer Removed After Deadly Stampede

Sumit Kumar Ghosh, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Girish Park Police Station, has been removed from his post following the stampede at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durgotsab pandal in Kolkata that claimed 19 lives. Hirak Dalapati, an officer from the Kolkata Police Detective Department, has been assigned interim charge of the police station on the instructions of Lalbazar.

According to an official order, "Hirak Dalapati, Inspector of Police (I- Cadre), Detective Department of Kolkata Police, will look after the work of the office of the Officer-In-Charge of Girish Park PS under Central Division, Kolkata Police, in addition to his own duties, with immediate effect in the interest of public service until further orders."

Investigation and Arrests

The development comes amid investigations into the deadly stampede at the Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal, which claimed 19 lives. Earlier on Sunday, the Bankshall Court remanded seven accused arrested in connection with the incident to 10 days of police custody, until October 28. Police had sought 14 days of custody.

Those arrested include Raj Kumar Sewda, alias Raja, the secretary of the puja committee; Santanu Dubey, its vice-president; and Biplab Mukherjee, alias Joy, who was involved in the construction of a bamboo structure. The other arrested persons include Koushik Saha, who was involved in crowd management and checking VIP passes; Pintu Dey, who was engaged in crowd management; and Suman Chakraborty and Rajesh Pal, who were working as private security in-charges.

Defence Claims Innocence

The defence lawyer, MD Yashim Raheman, claimed the accused were outsiders who had come to witness the Puja celebrations. "We informed the court that these individuals were outsiders; they had come to witness the Durga Puja celebrations. Upon observing the heavy crowding--where many people were in distress--they stepped in to assist with rescue efforts...Regarding the police custody (PC), the court has granted it until the 28th. Everyone has been remanded to police custody until the 28th. The police had requested custody until the 1st, but the judge granted it until the 28th," he told ANI.

He added that the court had granted police custody until October 28, although the police had sought custody until November 1.

State Reviews Security Arrangements

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari visited the central monitoring facilities to review crowd management arrangements. The state police have also brought back nine experienced IPS officers to the Kolkata Police force to strengthen crowd control and security arrangements during the Durga Puja festivities. (ANI)

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