Silchar (Assam), Jan 29: A businessman from Assam was among the 30 pilgrims killed in the stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj on Tuesday, police said.
The 63-year-old man was identified as Nitiranjan Roy who hailed from Hailakandi district in the Barak Valley.
Hailakandi Superintendent of Police Leena Doley said that Roy’s body will be airlifted to Silchar either on Wednesday or Thursday.
“We have received confirmation from the Uttar Pradesh Police about the death. We also talked to his family members,” Doley said.
Roy had gone to Prayagraj with his family members last week to take the ‘Amrit Snan’ on ‘Mauni Amavasya’.
A stampede broke out at around 2:30 am on Wednesday and though ”we screamed for help, there was no police at the stampede site”, a family member said.
The family searched for Roy, the proprietor of a popular sweet shop in Hailakandi, for hours and found him in a critical condition.
He was taken to a hospital but he died during treatment, Doley said.
”The body will be airlifted to Silchar after completion of mandatory procedure by the police of that state” she said.
At least 30 people were killed and 60 others injured in a stampede that broke out at the Maha Kumbh Mela in the early hours of Wednesday, officials said.
The pre-dawn stampede at the Sangam area of the Maha Kumbh broke out as millions of pilgrims jostled for space to take a holy dip on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya, considered one of the most auspicious days during the mela. (PTI)
