Five women killed in Haryana religious meet stampede

SIRSA - At least five women devotees were killed in a stampede early Friday during a religious gathering at the Dera Sacha Sauda sect headquarters near this Haryana town, police said.

The stampede took place around midnight when a congregation of the sect ended and ‘prasad’ and gifts were being distributed to devotees of sect chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh, officials said.

The stampede broke out when a squall hit the venue and people ran in different directions to take cover. About 100,000 devotees had gathered for the founder’s day celebrations of the sect just outside the sprawling sect headquarters in Sirsa, about 300 km from Chandigarh, Thursday night.

Several people were injured and four of them were admitted to the civil hospital with serious injuries.

“The incident occurred as followers of a sect were coming out after attending a satsang (religious sermon). In the stampede, five women between the age-group of 56 to 60 years were killed,” Kulbhushan Arora, security in-charge of Sirsa police, told IANS.

“The actual reason is still unknown and is being investigated but it could be due to heavy rush and there was chaos as everyone was trying to come out first due to excessive heat,” Arora said.

“Now the situation is normal and we will hand over the bodies to their families after conducting a post-mortem examination,” he added.

Sect spokesperson Aditya Insaan claimed that there was no mismanagement of the event that led to the stampede and the deaths.

“The event had ended before 11 p.m.. There were some devotees who were still at the venue when the unfortunate incident took place. We have contacted the families of the victims,” he said.