Suvendu Adhikari ordered scrutiny of temporary home guards following the Chorbagan pandal stampede. The proposed judge-led investigation will examine organisers, licensing authorities and safety lapses.
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Kolkata,Oct 18, 2026 16:36 IST
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday ordered scrutiny of temporary home guards deployed at a Durga Puja pandal after a stampede killed 19 people and injured 25, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
Adhikari said the role of the puja organisers and the authorities that granted permissions would also be investigated. A Special Investigation Team, proposed to be headed by a sitting Calcutta High Court judge, will conduct the probe if the state receives the Chief Justice's approval.
The stampede occurred at the Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata on Saturday evening after a crowd surge amid rain. Adhikari said he had sought the names of the temporary home guards on duty at the pandal to examine their role in the incident.
According to PTI, the chief minister said, "These home guards are not new recruits. They were on duty for the third year in a row, following their earlier appointments in 2024 and 2025."
Taking a dig at the previous TMC government, Adhikari said, "We are carrying on our shoulders a massive pile of rubbish as baggage. A clean-up will take time."
He said one of the home guards he tried to speak to at the pandal early on Sunday could neither understand nor speak Bengali.
"My views about the disaster changed after I visited the site, compared to what I was initially briefed. The accident took place at the common entry and exit gate, and not inside the puja pandal, which was dimly lit. I shudder to think of the consequences if this had happened inside. No one knows where the death toll would have reached," Adhikari said.
He said the pandal had only one opening for both entry and exit, with the home guards using a hand-held rope to divide the passage. "When it started to rain, they simply dropped the ropes and took shelter to save themselves from getting drenched," the chief minister claimed, suggesting that the lack of separate entry and exit routes caused the situation to spiral out of control.
Adhikari said the organisers would also be held accountable. "The organisers will also have to shoulder responsibility. There were problems with the theme as well. We are keeping under the scanner the Kolkata Police and fire services department, which issued the necessary licences and should have had these issues rectified beforehand," he said.
Personnel from the Kolkata Police, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and fire services department have been excluded from the SIT, Adhikari said. The Kolkata Police have arrested seven people, including the puja committee's secretary and vice-president and two employees of a private security agency, PTI reported.
The investigation will examine the roles of the temporary home guards, puja organisers and permission-granting authorities in the stampede, which left 19 people dead and 25 injured.
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