A collision at the privately run Venkateswara Swamy temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district claimed the lives of nine devotees and injured over 25 on Saturday morning.
After the tragic incident, Hari Mukund Panda, the 94-year-old founder of the temple, claimed no responsibility for the incident and claimed that worshipers flocked during the congregation of their own free will.
He also stated that he did not inform the police because he believed that the meeting would be routine, like any other day, and he did not expect such a high turnout on Saturday.
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Nine individuals — eight women and one boy — were killed and many others injured in a stampede at a temple Panda had built on his own land in Srikakulam district.
The tragedy was compounded by the fact that the Ekadasi holiday coincided with ‘Karthika Masam’, which traditionally attracts huge crowds.
“What should I do when so many people come at once? I usually send everyone in the queue, but yesterday there were so many people. I don’t know what happened, I didn’t inform any police,” priest Mukunda Panda said in PTI videos.
“I didn’t inform the police. I have courage, I told everyone to go to the queue. People came for darshan – what can I do if they were in a hurry and the situation turned like this?” asked Mukunda Panda while speaking to the media.
Panda further said that he remained in the compound till 3pm without lunch, even after the police arrived and brought the crowd under control.
The temple, which was owned by the priest Mukunda Panda, was not permitted to be converted to non-agricultural purposes or registered with the endowments department. Moreover, the organizers neglected to inform the local police before the event, Srikakulam District Superintendent of Police KV Maheshwara Reddy told PTI.
The SP confirmed that the organizers of the temple neither sought the necessary mandatory permissions nor asked for police protection before holding the event. The Lord Venkateswara Swamy Temple is a private facility operating without necessary approvals and the organizers allegedly failed to follow security protocols.
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Meanwhile, the police have registered a case under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Located in Kasibugga under Palasa mandal and modeled after the Tirumala shrine in Tirupati, the Venkateswara Swamy Temple was built by Hari Mukund Panda of Odisha and was inaugurated just four months ago.
One gate serving as both entry and exit, poor crowd control and lack of official permits turned the pilgrimage into chaos.
“It’s nobody’s fault – it was an act of God,” Panda said.
“I built a temple on my private land. Why should I inform the police or the administration?” Panda asked, according to an NDTV report.
AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday blamed the temple authorities for the tragedy and said if he (Panda) had informed the police earlier, they could have made arrangements to handle the crowd.
Naidu also ensured strict procedure in the case.
“You can book more cases. I have no problems,” Panda claimed.
