New Delhi: A BBC Hindi investigation has concluded that there were “at least 82 deaths” in the stampede during the Mahakumbh on Mauni Amavasya in Allahabad on January 29 this year.
The start of 2025 was marked with a publicity push by the Union and Uttar Pradesh governments around the Kumbh, a ritualistic observance that takes place in Prayagraj (Allahabad) every 14 years. Despite coverage by independent media, others and You Tubers around the crushing stampede, the state government had gone out on a limb to deny this. The government has so far admitted to only around 30 deaths.
Following an initial information blackout and no statement for over a day, police had said that 30 people had died. This figure has never been updated and the government has as yet not given a total count of the people who died at the Kumbh, even though it has announced a Rs. 25-lakh compensation for the families of those who died. The Allahabad high court recently asked for it to disclose the total number of people who died at the Kumbh this time.
BBC reports that it has met 26 other families who received compensation in cash bundles of Rs. 5 lakh each, but the names of the victims were not used to update the figures of the dead. The investigation traversed 50 districts and meetings with 100 families, and the ability of the investigation to confirm “at least 82 deaths”. The BBC collected videos and photographic evidence.
In a vast overreach, the union government and the Adityanath government have claimed that “66 crore persons attended the 45-day Kumbh and claimed that it was a huge success. Rs. 7000 crore of public money was reportedly spent on the event.
Finally, due to the pressure, it was only as late as February 19 that the chief minister Adityanath made a statement in the state Assembly on the stampede, admitting to 30 deaths, and 29 bodies being identified. He referred to some places as “pressure points”, saying that some difficulty was experienced there. BBC in its investigation found that deaths at occurred at four of these so-called “pressure points”.
The report classifies the victims into three categories, the first who received officially acknowledged compensation of Rs. 25 lakh each, and the second category of those who got Rs. 5 lakh – in cash. The third category of those victims who got nothing at all.
To the news that government giving cash as compensation for such avoidable tragedies goes, the disbursal of ex-gratia compensation to the next of kin of those who died in the stampede at the New Delhi railway station in February had raised eyebrows, and many questions too, with regard to the mode of payment. Union Railway ministry officials were reported to have been seen “handing over wads of cash, in bundles of notes of Rs. 100 and 50, after announcing that it would provide Rs. 10 lakh ex-gratia to the kin.”
37 of the deceased that were paid Rs. 25 lakh was by direct transfer or by cheque. But BBC says it is unable to confirm where the money for 36 families – who confirmed Rs. 5 lakh cash bundles each by the government adding up to Rs. 1 crore and 30 lakh – came from. Most of those who the investigation has confirmed got cash, have videos and images of the money being handed over. The report says that in most cases, UP police was involved in the handing over of money.
The BBC also reports that it was able to confirm that there are at least 19 families who have lost people in the stampede but received no help from the government.
The investigation has dozens of accounts of eyewitnesses, photographs and conversations with affected parties.
The report, released today, June 11, concludes by saying that there is a possibility that the numbers killed in the stampede is much higher, but they are sticking to 82 as that is the number they have been able to confirm by way of “solid evidence and eyewitness accounts”.
This editorial by The Hindu in January 2025 recalls the high cost of stampedes around religious gatherings in India.
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