Crime branch to conduct inquiry into stampede

S Ahmed Ali TNN

January 22,2014
Mumbai: The state home department has told the city crime branch to probe Saturday’s stampede in which 18 people died while attempting to enter the Malabar Hill residence of Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin and pay their respects.
    But questions are being raised about a probe by the police when its senior officials had themselves failed to anticipate the crowd outside the Syedna’s house.
    This is second such inquiry ordered by the home department. In 2012, an inquiry was ordered into the August 11 Azad Maidan riots in which two people died and 54, including 45 policemen, were injured. The riots, which started after members of a minority community had assembled to condemn the riots in Assam, had led to a loss of Rs 2.75 crore.
    Sources said the crime branch will form a team of three units headed by deputy commissioner of police Satyanarayan Choudhary. The inquiry will look into crowd mismanagement which led to chaos and a stampede. The police will also probe reports about text messages that were circulated urging members to pay their respects.
    Preliminary inquiries suggest that some community members had spread misinformation regarding the Syedna’s funeral through the messages. Atext message said that Maula (spiritual guru) had passed away and there was an announcement that the Janaza namaj (prayers) were set soon at Saifee Masjid. His body, it said, had been kept for deedar (pay last respects), and would be taken out of Saifee Mahal, Malabar Hill at 11.52 pm and reach Rozatut Tahera at Bhendi bazaar at 7 am on Saturday.
    The police said messages were spread among the community and 30,000-40,000 gathered outside Saifee Mahal. The police will check the source of the messages with mobile service providers and will also see if somebody played mischief.
    They will also check if there was a public address system as per additional commissioner of police Krishna Prakash’s instructions on Friday afternoon.