Durga Puja Stampede: SIT Visits Site, Says Three Months May Be Too Short to Submit Probe Report

PTI, Oct 22, 2026, Kolkata: A special investigation team (SIT) on Thursday inspected the site of the stampede at a Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata that claimed 19 lives on the first day of the festival. Sources said forensic personnel accompanied the team.

Members of the SIT were at the spot for nearly 15 minutes, during which they spoke with police and forensic officials. The West Bengal government on Wednesday constituted a six-member SIT headed by retired Calcutta High Court Judge, Justice Anindita Roy Saraswati (retired), to probe the stampede and make appropriate recommendations. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has said the SIT's recommendations will be made public and action will be taken based on them. To ensure an independent and impartial investigation, officials of the Kolkata Police and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation have not been included in the SIT, he said. The SIT has been asked to submit its report to the state government in three months.

However, Justice Anindita Roy Saraswati (retired), who heads the SIT, said on Thursday that three months was too short to submit the report, but the team would strive to meet the deadline.

The October 17 stampede at the Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata led to 19 deaths and left 25 people injured. The six-member special investigation team (SIT) has been constituted in consultation with the Calcutta High Court to probe the cause of the incident and recommend measures to prevent such incidents in future. "SIT members will meet soon to chalk out a roadmap for the investigation. We will visit the site to ascertain the cause of the incident," the retired judge told a vernacular news channel.

About the three-month deadline set by the state government to submit its report, she said, "It is a short duration, but we will try our best to meet the deadline."

According to the government, the SIT will examine the sequence of events leading to the stampede, including the circumstances that triggered the initial crowd surge, the number of people present at the venue and whether the gathering exceeded its assessed safe capacity.

It will scrutinise CCTV footage, mobile phone clips, forensic findings, call records, police station and control room logs, medical records and other evidence related to the incident. The SIT will also examine the preparedness and response of the organisers, police, private security personnel, volunteers, ambulance services, hospitals, fire services and civic authorities.

Besides the retired judge, the SIT comprises the principal secretary of the Disaster Management and Civil Defence Department, the director general and inspector general of police (DGP) of the Special Task Force, a representative of the West Bengal Police chief not below the rank of additional director general, a representative of the Home and Hill Affairs Department not below th