Seven killed in stampede at temple in Bihar’s Jehanabad

At least seven devotees, including five women, were killed and nine others were injured in a stampede on the way to the Baba Siddheshwarnath Temple atop Barabar hills in Bihar’s Jehanabad late on Sunday night.

The incident took place at around 12.30 am when devotees were climbing Barabar hills to offer puja at the temple in Makhdumpur area of Jehanabad.

Some local residents have blamed poor crowd management and police lathicharge for the incident. “There had been common routes for people visiting the temple and returning from there. As number of devotees started swelling ahead of onset of fourth Monday of Saawan month, police could not manage crowd and instead opened lathicharge that might have caused the stampede”, said Suman Kumar, relative of an injured kanwariya.