The Kumbh Mela is considered a grand occasion, one that merits celebration. The Mahakumbh this year was in highlights, as expected. But the reason for making headlines was not always the religious festivities. Improper crowd management, stampedes and deaths of devotees marred the news about the world’s largest religious gatherings. The nation had to witness a death toll of 37. But now, a BBC investigation claims there’s more to the story.
Glorious Festivities, Hidden Tragedies
A BBC Hindi investigation found 26 additional cases where families received partial compensation in cash, and 18 more deaths where no payment was made. These are not included in the official count of 38 deaths. Reportedly, Indian officials quietly paid compensation to these families and downplayed the cost of lives paid in the Mahakumbh.
Silent Compensation
On 25 March, a team of plain-clothed police officers from India’s northern Uttar Pradesh (UP) state arrived in neighbouring Bihar with bundles of cash.
The team visited Gopalganj city, where they met the family of 62-year-old Tara Devi. They handed over 500,000 rupees in cash to her son, Dhananjay Gond, and asked him to record a statement on video.
“My mother Tara Devi and I went to the Kumbh Mela for a holy dip. My mother died. Officers from UP came and gave us 500,000 rupees. We have received it,” says Dhananjay in the clip.
He adds that his mother was killed in the crowd crush in the city of Prayagraj in UP on 29 January. The UP government has not yet released an official list of the crush victims.A three-member judicial commission set up to investigate the incident and submit a report within a month has had its tenure extended
Dhananjay admitted that the police told him he had received the first installment of the 25 lakh rupees promised to victims’ families. He says he hasn’t received the remaining 20 lakh rupees.
BBC found families from UP’s Jaunpur to West Bengal’s Paschim Bardhaman who received Rs. 500,000 in a similar fashion.
Many casualties remain unreported
While the UP government transferred the compensation amount to the bank accounts of relatives in case of the officially recognised deaths, BBC found one family that received a cheque of 25 lakh. 26 others were paid 500,000 in cash by the police. It has also confirmed 18 deaths where no compensation was given. In many cases, government officials forced families to sign documents blaming health issues for the deaths of their relatives. The UP government does not compensate for natural deaths that occur during the Kumbh.
What’s more is that the government had stated that there had been one crush incident at the Sangam nose. The BBC has verified evidence of four separate crush incidents in Prayagraj on 29 January. The four locations have been identified as Sangam Nose, Jhusi side of Samudrakup Chauraha, Airavat Marg, and Mukti Marg Chauraha near Kalpavriksha Gate.
In the weeks after the incident, the BBC conducted thorough investigation to verify 82 deaths with concrete evidence. The team constructed timelines for each case.
Anomalies in Compensation Distribution
Some victims died even 3-4 kms away from the Sangam Nose. Kusum Devi, the wife of Panne Lal Sahni, says that her husband died around 8am on 29 January. “People were stepping over his body. I sat in the sun with his corpse until 4pm. No-one even gave us water,” she says. The family received 500,000 rupees in cash.
Bhagirathi Gond, works as a daily wage labourer in Bengaluru. After the crush, he travelled to Prayagraj looking for his father, and reached the hospital on 3 February.
According to a slip from the hospital, Shyamlal Gond was brought in dead at 10.02 local time on 29 January.
“My father was listed as unidentified. To maintain records, they [hospital staff] had kept a file. They took a photo of the body in the condition it was found and pasted it into a register… It was difficult to identify him.”
The hospital refused to provide him official paperwork or a death certificate and asked him to take the body. It took four months before he got the death certificate. But he is still waiting for compensation for his loss.
Government’s Response Missing
The BBC repeatedly tried to contact UP government officials, emailing the information department and district magistrate. Despite promises by the district magistrate’s office, no call was arranged. Attempts to reach the UP police chief went unanswered, while Prayagraj’s police commissioner at the time of the incident, Tarun Gaba, and Mela officer Vijay Kiran Anand refused to answer questions.
The government boasted many arrangements including 2,750 AI-enabled CCTVs, 50,000 security personnel, drones and ambulances. But Kumbh led to crowd-crush incidents both at the site, and away, as seen at the railway station in Delhi. Even so, is evading accountability the route the government should be on?
