MP stampede: Police deny allegations of throwing people into river

Madhya Pradesh police on Monday denied allegations that its officials threw dead bodies as well as some of the injured into the Sindh river after a stampede on a bridge leading to Ratangarh temple.

Denying the charges that have been widely reported in the media, Chambal DIG DK Arya said the allegations were baseless and police officers were sons and fathers too.

“Police personnel also happen to be sons, brothers and fathers.. There might have been some lapses but police personnel can never indulge in such inhuman and despicable acts of throwing dead bodies into a river,” Arya told the Hindustan Times.

Survivors of the Ratangarh stampede had alleged the local police threw bodies off the bridge.

Fifteen-year old Ashish Ahirwar told The Times of India that the police pushed him off the bridge when he went to claim the body of his 5-year old brother.

“I fell on my knees and begged the cops to allow me to take my brother’s body home. But they pushed me off the bridge, saying I too should die,” he had said.

“These were demons in khaki. I have seen policemen dumping children into the river. It was a heart-wrenching scene,” Indel Ahirwar, another survivor, told ToI .

Survivors also alleged that police officials were robbing bodies of their valuables before throwing them into the river.

The Madhya Pradesh government has ordered a judicial probe into the incident, the report of which is expected in two months.

While survivors claim the stampede occurred due to a lathi-charge by the police, a section of the police say it was a rumour that the bridge was going to collapse that caused it.