The toll in Sunday’s stampede near the Mahashivratri fair in Junagadh rose to seven after one more pilgrim succumbed to his injuries on Monday.

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In view of the mishap, the fair organisers decided to call off the famous procession, even as the under-fire Junagadh police tightened security arrangements in the area to ensure that Shivratri festival passes of peacefully.

Six persons, including three children and a woman, died in the stampede on Sunday evening. The toll rose to seven after one injured pilgrim was declared dead, even as the other injured devotees are under treatment.

Pilgrims attributed the mishap to police’s failure to manage the rush of devotees. They said that police failed to control the traffic chaos near Damodar Kund, and were unable to reach the mishap site for several hours on Sunday.

“Police were absent from the spot, and they also did not take hold of the situation after the mishap,” a devotee alleged. Sources said that cops did not have any plan to control any unwanted incident.

“They were just into the policing, but did not have any proper exit or entry. They also did not control the traffic and allowed it to swell on narrow lanes leading to the temple,” said sources.

However, Junagadh Range inspector general Praveen Sinha and district superintendent of police Deepankar Trivedi refused to say anything about the police failure to control the large rush of devotees.

Three SRP companies were deployed from Gondal to Junagadh to manage the flow of pilgrims. Police sources said that the bandobast was increased after the incident. Sinha was deputed to oversee rescue operations on the spot.

Meanwhile, Akhil Bhartiya Sadhu Samaj, the main organiser of the fair, has decided to call off the famous procession and said that only a symbolic procession would be taken out instead.

State agriculture minister Dileep Sanghani visited the injured survivors of the stampede in Junagadh. Sanghani inspected the site and also expressed his condolences to family members of those who had lost their kin. The state government has asked ACS Varun Maira to conduct a probe into the stampede.