At least three persons were killed when a stampede broke out during a blanket distribution programme attended by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in West Bengal. The Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly was invited as the chief guest at the event.
According to media reports, the stampede started after Adhikari left the event.
“Three persons were killed and five others were injured in the stampede. The injured people were hospitalised," News agency PTI quoted a senior officer of the Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate as saying.
The police said a religious group had organised the event and no permission was taken from them for it.
The injured were rushed to Asansol district hospital for treatment.
The ruling Trinamool Congress has blamed Suvendu Adhikari for the three deaths. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh also blamed Justice Rajashekhar Mantha of Calcutta High Court, whom he accused of granting full indemnity to Adhikari, which "emboldened the BJP leader to disrupt law and order in West Bengal". Earlier this month, Justice Mantha had allowed a BJP rally in TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee's bastion, Diamond Harbour.