Several injured in stampede at Ujjain's Mahakaleshwar Temple amid VIP visit

Several devotees, including women and children, were injured on Monday following a stampede at Ujjain's famous Mahakaleshwar Siva Temple. The crowd was uncontrollable after visits by some VIPs, including Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. 

The incident took place at gate number four of the temple where despite COVID restrictions, the crowd was seen jostling and pushing against each other in a bid to enter the temple. Several tumbled down and others fell over them leading to one of the barricade gates getting damaged. A video of the incident went viral on social media.

"After the barricade broke, several people tried to run towards the main deity but thankfully there was no untoward incident," the temple’s assistant administrator Moolchand Joonwal told PTI. 

The Mahakaleshwar temple is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of lord Siva. It reopened last month, but only for those who have received at least one dose of Covid vaccine or with a negative RT-PCR test report issued 48 hours before the visit.

• Ujjain
• Mahakaleshwar Temple
• stampede
• COVID
• Shivraj Singh Chouhan