19 People Killed in Kolkata after a Stampede at Durga Puja Pandal

19 PEOPLE, most of them were women and children killed after a stampede broke out at a Durga Puja Pandal in Kolkata on Saturday, October 17, 2026. The incident triggered after an announcement by the organisers caused panic amid a large number of people taking shelter in the Pandal from rain.

The incident took place around 7:40 p.m. at the exit gate of the Pandal, a statement from the police said. A large crowd had gathered at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durgotstab in Kolkata’s Girish Park area when they tried to take shelter inside the pandal after a brief spell of rainfall, according to reports.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said that the stampede broke out after a misleading announcement was made by the organisers of the Durga Puja pandal. The police had detained the organisers and a proper investigation is underway to find out the reason behind the mishap, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the incident as “extremely distressing” and announced compensation of ₹2 lakh for the dead and ₹50,000 to the injured. He said the local administration is providing all possible assistance to those affected.

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The police detained 14 people after the stampede on Saturday night, of which seven have been taken to the custody including the secretary and vice-president of the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durga Puja Committee. The police have filed a suo motu case under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), among other charges.

CM Adhikari further promised that the State’s Chief Secretary will write to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to set up a special investigation team (SIT) headed by a sitting judge of the Calcutta High Court. Due to dubious dealing of the matter the Police officials will be kept out of it, the CM said.

A similar stampede incident in past in kolkata

There have been clear instances of mismanagement and lack of following of crowd control guidelines, peril of which aggravated when combined with the worsened weather conditions. The incident could have been avoided had the organisers and police management not failed to implement apt measures to control the crowd. 

The incident at Chorbagan recalls the events of 2015 at Deshapriya Park in South Kolkata, where the crowd puller was an 88-foot Durga idol, touted as the tallest in the world.

A huge influx of crowd then pervaded into the narrow neighborhood streets before the festival officially began, which caused panic and suffocation like severe conditions among children and elderly. While 11 people were reportedly injured, officials said only 2-3 had received medical injuries in the incident. 

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The Kolkata Police then took charge, declaring the heavy gathering of devotees as a security threat. They restricted the entrance of the public to the park while demolishing the idol, at the end.

The same old pattern of pushing a large uncontrolled number of people through narrow neighbourhood lanes into the extreme bottlenecked entrance of the Pandals, was always a grim reminder of the repeat of the Deshapriya Park kind of incident, which is what happened on Saturday, October 17, 2026.

Edited by Ritik Singh

[Rh/GS/RS]

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