MP temple stampede: Cops threw dead off the bridge, says survivor

Post the stampede at the Ratangarh temple, villagers and survivors have claimed that they were witness to policemen dumping bodies of pilgrims into the river to water down the death toll of the tragedy. [caption id=“attachment_1171091” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] a stampede at the Ratangarh temple in Madhya Pradesh. PTI[/caption] According to the report which appeared in today’s Times of India , eyewitnesses even accused the police had stealing money and valuables from the bodies before tossing them off the bridge. “I was there at the bridge during the stampede and I have seen policemen dumping over two dozen pilgrims, some of them alive, into the river,” said Geeta Mishra, 55, a resident of Bhind, in the Times of India report. “When I told them my brother had died, they said that ‘now your brother is dead, why should you live on?’ and threw me off the bridge,” said a Ashish, 15, who broke a leg after being thrown off, according to a report in the Hindustan Times . Geeta Mishra, 55, who hails from Daboh in Bhind district, said to the Hindustan Times that she saw policemen throwing the dead and injured into the river. “Nearly 25 people were thrown off the bridge and some of them were alive,” she said.