Kolkata, Oct 18: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday said that of the 19 people who died in the Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal stampede, 18 victims were from various parts of the state, while one deceased hailed from Bihar’s Muzaffarpur.
Emerging from a high-level meeting at Bhawani Bhaban, the state CID headquarters, Adhikari said bodies of the deceased would be handed over to family members under supervision of senior officials following the autopsy procedure.
“We have assigned magistrate and DSP-ranked officers to hand over the bodies to the respective families. The officers will remain with the families till the cremations are over,” the CM said.
Adhikari said he will personally visit the families of the deceased on October 20 and October 21 to offer condolences and hand over compensation cheques of Rs 25 lakh.
He also said that personnel of the Kolkata Police, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and fire services department have been kept out of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe their role in the stampede.
At least 19 people died and 25 were injured in the stampede at Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata, following a crowd surge amid rain on Saturday evening. (PTI)
