Sabarimala stampede: Police to keep deadline set by Kerala high court

Kerala police will submit to the high court on January 20 a report on the Pullumedu Stampede which claimed 102 lives.

"As required by the court, the police department would submit its report on Jaunuary 20", DGP Jacob Punnose told reporters at Thrissur.

Pulling up the government, a division bench of the Kerala high court had yesterday asked the Police and Forest departments and the Trvancore Devaswom Commissioner to submit a report on the tragedy.

The Bench comprising Justice Thottathil Radhakrishnan and Justice PS Gopinathan, monitoring the affairs relating to Sabarimala pilgrimage, sought to know the circumstances that led to the stampede and how the situation was handled by the departments concerned.

The judges also expressed displeasure over the neglect of warning given by the court earlier this month about the need to regulate the flow of pilgrims to avoid diasters like stampede.

Recting to court order, Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandan said that the proposed judicial probe to be conducted into the disaster would cover all aspects and the guilty would not be spared.

Meanwhile, the investigation by the crime branch into the incident is progressing and its initial report is expected to be drawn up in a couple of days revealing the causes that triggered the worst tragedy ever happened in the history of the hillshrine.