Kolkata, Oct 22 — Justice Anindita Roy Saraswati (retired) on Thursday confirmed that the entry and exit routes of the Chorbagan Sarbojonin Durga Puja pandal were "pathetically narrow."
The tragedy resulted in the deaths of 19 people, while 25 others were injured.
She noted that dim lighting inside the pandal may have also contributed to the confusion. Furthermore, preliminary observations revealed that the emergency exit route was locked when chaos began to unfold on the pandal premises.
Members of the six-member judicial probe panel, constituted by the West Bengal government and headed by the retired judge, commenced their official investigation on Thursday after inspecting the site where the tragedy occurred on Saturday night.
“The entrance and exit to the pavilion are very narrow. There were also poor lighting arrangements within the pandal premises. The police said that the emergency exit was closed at the time of the accident. It seems that the police acted correctly. We inspected the entire pavilion under the same lighting conditions as during the incident. The entire setup was disappointing. No conclusions can be drawn right now,” Justice Saraswati (retired) told reporters.
Regarding the immersion of the idols, which remain inside the pandal, she stated that even if permission for immersion is granted, the pandal structure must remain intact for the time being to facilitate further investigation.
“At the same time, the individual whose misleading announcement led to the incident is under investigation,” she added.
On Thursday, the Kolkata Police detained Sanjib Raha (alias Sentu), the treasurer of the Chorbagan Sarbojonin organising committee, on suspicion of making the misleading announcement over the microphone.
The announcement was made while chaos was already mounting due to rain, as people outside attempted to force their way inside for shelter while those already indoors refused to leave.
During the confusion, a misleading announcement instructed people to evacuate immediately due to fear of the structure collapsing. This triggered widespread panic, causing visitors to rush out, with some attempting to exit via the entry gate, ultimately resulting in the fatal stampede.