Five days after the Chorebagan stampede in which 19 pandal visitors were killed and at least 25 injured, police barricades, ‘do not cross’ tapes and shoes left behind in the panic remained at the sealed-off site.
While pandals and adjoining stalls across the city are being dismantled, the Chorebagan pandal remains sealed off for the investigation. A row of ice cream and soft drink stalls along the narrow lanes surrounding the pandal also falls within the barricaded area.
A pair of sneakers, a woman’s sandal and a pair of glasses lay scattered near the pandal exit on Bhuban Banerjee Lane. The glasses remained intact. Several other pairs of shoes lay strewn around the opposite corner of the road, soiled and, in some cases, torn.
A police forensic team visited the site on Thursday afternoon. The government-appointed special investigation team, headed by a retired judge, arrived in the evening.
The bylanes were quiet in the afternoon, and the mood sombre. What little conversation there was centred on the tragedy. At a paan-and-cigarette shop on a narrow lane, three men discussed the incident. One said it was “shameful to hear outsiders trying to downplay the incident”.
As details of the stampede were still emerging, a man had been heard telling a television channel, “Kuch nahi hua hai. Sab safe hai (Nothing has happened. Everyone is safe)”. Another man beside him claimed that around seven to eight people had been injured. The clip has since circulated widely on social media.
At the shop, another man lamented the absence of a previous Puja organiser, who he said had been removed this year. Opposition leaders have alleged that the BJP forcefully took over the Chorebagan committee recently.
The man said the previous organiser had considerable experience managing crowds. “The crowd swelled in previous years too. But after a point, the pandal would be closed to new visitors until the rush eased,” he said.
A third man said the tragedy had “ruined the reputation” of Chorebagan.
The neighbourhood’s name translates as “garden of thieves” and reflects its documented association with bandits in the area around what is now MuktaramBabu Street. Yet some of Calcutta’s colonial-era elitesbuilt private residences in the locality.
The Chorbagan Mitra family’s Durga Puja on Muktaram Babu Street, which is more than 350 years old, was among three bonedi bari pujas recognised by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) this year.
According to family history and independent chroniclers, the puja’s founder, Ramsundar Mitra, was a moneylender whose clients included Robert Clive. He built a mansion on Muktaram Babu Street.
Another old residence stands on the same road, a stone’s throw from the Chorebagan pandal on Amar Basu Sarani. The Chatterjee family’s building bears a banner announcing that its Durga Puja completed 167 years this year.