One more person arrested in connection with Kolkata Durga Puja stampede

The Kolkata Police on Thursday (October 22, 2026) arrested another person in relation to the Durga Puja stampede in the city that killed 19 people. Previously, the police had detained 14 people for interrogation on October 18 and arrested seven of them.

Also read | Kolkata stampede: Three months too short to submit probe report, will strive to meet deadline, says SIT head

“The alleged announcer in Chorebagan Puja pandal — Sanjeev Raha alias Sentu [treasurer] — has been picked up from Nadia by DD KP,” a statement from Additional Commissioner of Kolkata Police said on Thursday evening (October 22, 2026). Later, Kolkata Police said that the announcer was arrested after questioning.

Panic among crowd

After the tragic incident, there were allegations that wrong announcements of a possible pandal collapse had triggered panic among the crowd and that people started rushing in multiple directions, which may be one of the causes behind the stampede. The detaining and questioning of the alleged announcer comes as a significant development in the case.

Police had already arrested the secretary and vice-president of the Chorebagan Durga Puja committee along with five other people, including two security in-charges, one person engaged in the pandal construction, and two persons involved in crowd management. They were all sent to 10 days of police custody on October 18.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday (October 21) had said that the stampede was due to human mistakes and that the government will take measures to avoid any such incidents in the future.

“We lost fellow citizens due to mistakes made by humans. We will investigate this. The government has a few responsibilities, and we have fulfilled those. But we have also taken lessons from the tragic incident and ensure that such an incident does not repeat itself in the future,” Mr. Adhikari said at an event in Howrah.

The Chief Minister also added that he has already visited 12 families of the victims and will visit the others on October 23 and 24. Mr. Adhikari said that they will take extra precautions and necessary steps to avoid any such incidents during next year’s Durga Puja.

A six-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed on October 21 to probe the stampede. The team will be headed by a former judge Justice (retired) Anindita Roy Saraswati and several other officials, including a National Disaster Response Force representative and State government representative.

‘Real culprits get saved’

On the other hand, Mamata All India Trinamool Congress MLA Kunal Ghosh on Thursday said that every member of the “new Durga Puja committee” should be under custody before the SIT begins investigation. “Otherwise, no matter how diligently the retired judge tries to investigate, at every step the police and the government will try to protect and safeguard the influential people behind this. Real culprits get saved and some poor police persons will be scapegoated,” Mr. Ghosh said.

The Trinamool party faction had also previously alleged that the old Durga Puja committee at Chorebagan were “forced” to resign and a new “BJP-backed” committee had been brought in its place.

On Wednesday, the Chief Minister had also said that only “Sanatanis” would be allowed to participate in Durga idol immersion ceremonies. Reacting to this, Mr. Ghosh said that the Chief Minister is trying to “create” new issues to cause distraction from the stampede and engage people in other issues so the focus shifts from the “real culprits”.