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Two suffocated to death in Vrindavan’s Bankey Bihari temple
Two devotees died of suffocation during ‘Mangla Aarti’ at Bankey Bihari Temple in Vrindavan on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. There was a huge crowd on Janmashtami and besides those on the premises, many others thronged the lanes leading to the temple, said SSP Mathura, Abhishek Yadav.
Agra Two people were killed due to heavy crowd pressure at Bankey Bihari Temple in Vrindavan on Janmashtami during the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. Seven others fainted and were admitted to Vrindavan hospital.
It is said more devotees were allowed inside the temple than could be accommodated, which led to several being suffocated and two dying.
“Two devotees died of suffocation during ‘Mangla Aarti’ at Bankey Bihari Temple in Vrindavan on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. There was huge crowd on Janmashtami and besides those on the premises, many others thronged the lanes leading to the temple,” said SSP Mathura, Abhishek Yadav.
“Entry was allowed from gates 2 and 3 and exit was from gates 1 and 4. There was much humidity, heat and crowd pressure due to which a devotee fainted at gate no. He fell in the midst of the crowd and was unable to move. Efforts were made to remove him but it took time because exit pressure was huge,” said the SSP.
“The uncontrolled crowd pressure made his removal tough and many moved over him but finally he was taken out. However, exit at gate no. 4 was blocked causing suffocation and a few others fainted. About half a dozen people were rescued and were sent to hospital. Others who fainted were revived after coming out in the open but two died because of suffocation and other ailments,” said the SSP.
Those who died were identified as Nirmala Devi from Sector 99 in NOIDA and Ram Prasad Vishwakarma, 66, from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh whose wife also fainted on the temple premises. The devotees in panic trod over those who fainted and fell in the stampede at exit gates of the temple, sources revealed.
Those who were taken for treatment included Ghanshyam (51) from Kanpur, Rajkumar (29) from Delhi, Rajendra Singh (61), Saroj from Vrindavan, Manita (26) from Faridabad (Haryana), Sheetal (57) from Dehradun and Reena Devi (60) from Kolkata.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the deaths and issued directions for proper treatment of the injured. In his tweet on Saturday morning, Yogi ordered the home department to make better arrangements in temples on festivals.
The CM was himself in Vrindavan town barely 12 hours before the tragedy, although he had not visited this temple and had inaugurated Annapurna kitchen on Friday before going to Mathura where he offered prayers at Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi.
Mangla Aarti is usually organized in the early hours of the day but it is a tradition to hold it after midnight on Janmashtami, celebrated to mark the birth of Lord Krishna. It had drawn a huge crowd, including people from the National Capital Region (NCR) where Lord Bankey Bihari is much revered.
Notably, the senior officials of administration and police were present at the temple when the tragedy took place.
