BBC investigation reveals hidden deaths at the Crush Indian Festival

Warning: History contains suffering details

BBC’s Hindi investigation reveals that Indian officials have quietly paid compensation to more people’s families than admitting A deadly crushes crush in kumbh melaHindu festival, which is the most religious gathering in the world.

The official number of deaths is 37, but the BBC has found 26 additional cases where the families have received partial benefit in cash and 18 more deaths where no payment was made.

On March 25, a team of ordinary police officers from Northern Utar Pradesh (UP) of India arrived in neighboring Bihar with packages of money.

The team visited GoPalganj City, where they met with the family of 62-year-old Tara Devi. They handed over over 500,000 rupees ($ 5,758; £ 4,291) in cash Dhananjay Gond and asked him to record a video statement.

In the video, Dhananjay introduces himself, saying, “My mother Tara Devi and I went to Kumbh Mela for the holy immersion. My mother died. UP officials came and gave us 500,000 rupees. We received it.”

Dhananjay says his mother was killed in crush in the city of Prajagai on UP on January 29th.

The UP government has not yet released an official list of crush victims. Tara Devi’s son tells him the police told him that the money he received was the first installment of 2.5 million rupees officially promised to the victims’ families. Dhananjay says he has not received the remaining 2m rupees.

The UP government claims to have paid 2.5 million rupees each of the families of 35 victims (out of 37 deaths, one victim remains unidentified and another has no legal heir). A three -member judicial committee set to investigate the incident and submit a report within a month has expanded its term.

However, the BBC found another family that received a check of 2.5 million rupees. For the other 35 casualties, the benefit was transferred to the bank accounts of the relatives.

Apart from that, the BBC find 26 cases – including that of Tara Devi – where police pay 500,000 Rupees in cash in people’s homes.

In many cases, employees have made families sign documents accusing health problems of death, although they insist that their relatives were killed in the crush. (The UP government usually does not compensate for the natural deaths during KUMBH, takes place every 12 years.)

The BBC also confirmed 18 deaths that have not been compensated (except for the case mentioned above when there is no legal heir).

He also found evidence of four separate crushing incidents at Prayagraj on January 29, despite the claim by Chief Minister Yogi Aditat that only one has happened to what is called Cape Sandam – the meal of three sacred rivers, Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati.

During the weeks after Cumbh Crush, the BBC met over 100 families in 11 states in India, who claim that their relatives were killed in the tragedy. He examined a total of 82 deaths with specific evidence, except for cases that have no evidence.

Some families have after death, morgue, death certificates or photos and videos as evidence. BBC’s local newspapers were crossed by the reports of local newspapers and spoke with district reporters to track where the bodies were obtained, map these places, and then visited the victims’ families.

The BBC interviews families and eyewitnesses to reconstruct the deadlines just in case – when the victims left for the holy immersion, the time of crushing, nearby sights, the distance from the bathroom and the immediate afterwards.

From these detailed stories, clear models emerged, leading to the identity of four lubrication places: Cape Sandam, Jucy’s side of Samudrakuk Chauria, Iyavat Marg and Muti Marg Chara near the Kalpauricksha gate.

Most of the complete cases of compensation of 2.5 m rupees list the place of death as “Ward # 7, Fort Kant, Prajagi”, about 1.5 km (0.9 miles) from Sandam’s nose.

In contrast, cases that have received 500,000 rupees are mostly mentioned “Sector-20 or Sector-21, the Kumbh Mela, JUSI” area. Some of these families claim that their relatives have also died close to Sandam’s nose, but that their certificates are mistakenly quoting Jusie – probably about downplaying the scale of the tragedy there.

As for the 18 families who have not received compensation, it seems that there is no common thread that connects them.

For example, in one place to lubricate, the BBC identifies five bodies through photos and numbers issued during the formalities after death. Of these, the families of three victims received 500,000 rupees in cash until the other two received anything. Some other families have photos from the day of the crush that show the organs of their relatives, but these deaths are not recognized by the government.

The BBC has repeatedly tried to contact civil servants by sending an email to the information department and the district magistrate. Despite the promises of the District Magistrate service, no call was agreed. Attempts to reach the police chief remained unanswered, while Prayagraj police commissioner during the incident Tarun Gaba and Mela Cyani Kiran Anand’s officer refused to answer questions.

The BBC has also found evidence of death in crushing, which took place in places other than Sandam’s nose, which the government acknowledged by giving some compensation.

In Jaunpur on Up, Dharmraj Rajbhar received 500,000 rupees for the death of his wife and daughter -in -law at Airvat Marg Crush.

A video shot by the BBC on January 29 shows the family sitting with the two bodies in the place. At home, Raibhar showed the packages in cash and said: “The government promised 2.5 million rupees, but police gave only 500,000 rupees and left.”

UP police are also traveling hundreds of kilometers to Pashim Bardhaman in West Bengal, where they handed over over 500,000 rupees to the Vinod Ruidas family.

However, not all families accepted the amount. In Bihar, Sunna’s relatives rejected him. They told the BBC that they refused to “sign fake documents”.

The BBC also identifies at least five families who lost their relatives near the Kalpauricksha Gate, about 3-4 km from Sandam’s nose.

Kusum Devi, the wife of Pan Lal Sani, says her husband died around 8am on January 29th. “People passed over his body. I sat in the sun with his corpse until 16:00. No one even gave us water,” she says. The family received 500,000 Rupees in cash.

Relatives of all five people who died near the gate Kalpauricksha had similar stories that they tell – they sat with the bodies from morning to evening.

Over time, another 18 families emerged that their relatives had died in the crush but have not yet received compensation.

Among the 18s is the Meena Pandy from Sultanpur, up, who travels to Kumb with her husband and neighbor Archana Singh. Archana remembers sitting with the body of mine in place of crush until 15:00 – seven hours after crushing.

Despite the claims of the 2750 AI CCTV, 50,000 security staff, drones and ambulances have not arrived help, relatives said.

By the afternoon the body began to fall apart, Archana says.

“We had no choice but to carry it at home in our vehicle.”

Like the Meena Pandey family, the relatives of Shyamlal Gond from DEORIA of Up are still waiting for compensation.

His son Bhagirai Gond works as a worker at a daily salary in Bengaluru. After the crush, he traveled to Prajagi, looking for his father and reached the hospital on February 3.

According to the hospital fiche, Shyamlal Gond was brought dead at 10.02 local time on January 29th.

“My father was referred to as unidentified. To maintain records, they (hospital staff) had kept a file. They took a picture of the body in a condition found and put it in the register.”

He added, “It was difficult to identify him through the photo. After falling, his head bent down, his chest pressed up and his face turned slightly.”

Bhagirathi says the hospital staff would not give him a death certificate or other documents.

“They told me to take the body, but I said I would only do it if an official procedure was followed,” he said.

It took four months before receiving the death certificate. But he is still waiting for compensation for his loss.

“The government has not yet admitted that my father died in the crush.”

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