Four people were injured as a stampede broke out during a religious event in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut on Friday. Many women fell on the ground as the crowd went out of control at Shiv Mahapuran by preacher Pradeep Mishra at the city's Partapur ground.
The incident took place at around 1 pm when private security staff, deployed at the venue tried to stop women from entering, as per media reports.
Additional Director General of Meerut Zone Dhruv Kant Thakur said there have been no deaths reported.
While there were separate gates for entry and exit, the same was not being followed shortly after the event began. As the crowd swelled inside the venue, people used the entry gate to leave the ground fearing any stampede-like situation.
The attendees pushed their way out of the entry gate due to which women standing outside fell and could not escape the outflux of crowd leading to the stampede.
In July this year, a massive stampede killed 121 people -- mostly women and children -- at Phulrai village under Sikandra Rau police station limits of Hathras district.
The stampede occurred during a satsang, on July 2, addressed by self-styled godman Surajpal alias Bhole Baba, a resident of Kasganj district in Uttar Pradesh.
As the self-styled godman was leaving the venue, the crowd rushed to touch his feet when people fell over each other resulting in a stampede. Around 2.5 lakh people had joined the event.
As per the police investigation, the organisers were found guilty of the mismanagement of the event that led to the stampede. The organisers had permission for a gathering of 80,000 people, as against 2.5 lakh who reached the venue.
The baba was revealed to be a former employee of the UP police who worked with the Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) for 18 years. He took voluntary retirement in 1990, during his posting in Etah, in order to pursue spirituality.
(With inputs from Sanuj Sharma)