A six-member team will investigate the deadly stampede at Kolkata's Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal. Its findings could reshape crowd safety and emergency preparedness at major events.
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Kolkata,Oct 22, 2026 13:04 IST
A special investigation team probing the October 17 stampede at a Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata will try to submit its report within three months, although the deadline is short, the panel's head, retired Justice Anindita Roy Saraswati, said on Thursday, according to news agency Press Trust of India.
The stampede at the Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata killed 19 people and injured 25. The six-member team was constituted in consultation with the Calcutta High Court to investigate the cause and recommend measures to prevent similar incidents.
Justice Saraswati said the team would meet soon to prepare a roadmap for the investigation and visit the site to determine the cause of the stampede.
Asked about the state government's three-month deadline for the report, she told a Bengali news channel, as quoted by PTI: "It is a short duration, but we will try our best to meet the deadline."
According to the government, the team will examine the sequence of events leading to the stampede, including the circumstances that triggered the initial crowd surge, the number of people at the venue and whether the gathering exceeded the site's assessed safe capacity.
It will review CCTV footage, mobile phone clips, forensic findings, call records, police station and control room logs, medical records and other evidence related to the incident.
The team will also assess the preparedness and response of the organisers, police, private security personnel, volunteers, ambulance services, hospitals, fire services and civic authorities.
Besides Justice Saraswati, the team includes the principal secretary of the Disaster Management and Civil Defence Department; the director general and inspector general of police of the Special Task Force; a representative of the West Bengal Police chief not below the rank of additional director general; a representative of the Home and Hill Affairs Department not below the rank of joint secretary; and a representative of the National Disaster Response Force in Kolkata.
The investigation will seek to establish the events and circumstances that led to the stampede, assess the response of the authorities and organisers, and suggest measures to prevent such incidents in future.
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