The towering Durga idol in whose presence 19 lives were snuffed out on October 17 was brought down from its perch on Saturday afternoon and immersed without the usual noise and splendour.
A portion of the Chorebagan pandal, now a scene of crime under investigation, had to be ripped apart so that the nearly 15-foot idol could be taken out.
The damage to the pandal was kept to a minimum because the structure cannot be tampered with until a special investigation team (SIT), headed by retired judge Anindita Roy Saraswati, completes its probe.
Tied with ropes around its arms and waist, the idol — seated on a lotus with a snake encircling it, two of the hands holding a lotus — was towed out of what was the pandal’s entrance, where several thousand had gathered on October 17 evening to watch the goddess.
A surge of people from the entrance, many rushing in to escape a spell of heavy rain, is suspected to have triggered a rush to the narrow exit corridor, packed with people stranded because of the rain.
An allegedly incorrect announcement about the imminent collapse of a part of the pandal created panic and added to the crush, eyewitnesses have said. The deaths occurred at the exit.
On Saturday, a garland of flowers hung around the deity’s neck as three dozen workmen laboured to get it out. Scores of police thronged the north Calcutta neighbourhood.
“There was no traditional boron (a ceremonial farewell by the women of the house) before her departure. No sindoor khela. A portion of the pandal was removed to bring the structure out onto the road,” a woman in her early 60s said.
She was among the hundreds who stood on either side of Amar Basu Sarani to catch a last glimpse of the idol as the labourers, some of whom had come from Canning and Baruipur in South 24-Parganas, pulled it out.
“We hope she returns next year and no lives are lost. This is the first time in decades that we couldn’t perform the bisarjan (immersion) rituals,” the woman said.
Police officers had initially decided to lift the idol directly onto a truck. But the labourers’ efforts, with bamboo poles and ropes, failed.
The officers then brought in a wheeled iron cart. The labourers placed the idol on the cart before it was transferred to the truck, using the open tailgate as a ramp.
The vehicle moved up Central Avenue, escorted by a police convoy. The other idols, including the Asur, were placed on a separate truck, which had a black banner fitted at the front mourning the dead.
There were no dhakis (drummers), no musical bands, no lights, and no grand procession. Some residents walked in front in silence, holding lighted candles.
When the idol reached Nimtala Ghat in the afternoon, none of the Puja organisers was present.
Nine people have been arrested so far in connection with the stampede, including three members of the Puja committee, but there appears to be no move yet to question BJP heavyweights linked to the committee.
Those arrested include two alleged pandal announcers, one of whom is suspected to have made the announcement about an imminent pandal collapse.
One of the two, Kushal Majumdar, was the ninth suspect to be arrested. After his detention on Friday, a note purportedly signed by him had been posted on his social media handle.
It claimed the son of a club office-bearer had told him that a portion of the pandal was about to collapse, and that he made an announcement on the instructions of the police personnel present.
Voice test plan
The investigating officers said they would seek court permission to match the voice samples of the two alleged announcers with the “pandal collapse” announcement, whose audio has been widely circulated on social media.
A senior police officer said: “A separate deployment was made with the help of senior officers of the Girish Park police station to ensure there was no disruption during the immersion process. The entire proceeding has been recorded for future reference.”
At the ghat, the idol was transferred from the truck to a manual trolley, arranged by the civic body, and rolled down the ghat’s concrete ramp with help from other handlers.
“The entire process had to be completed by 7.30pm before low tide set in. We will submit a report to the SIT about the completion of the idol’s immersion,” the senior police officer said.