The police in West Bengal filed a case against the organiser of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Midnapore on Monday during which a tent collapsed, injuring 90 people. The police have also booked the decorator who erected the tent, PTI reported. The two men were booked for “extreme negligence”, said Superintendent of Police Alok Rajoria.
Meanwhile, BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu alleged that the accident took place because the police had baton-charged party activists at the venue.
“The police could have controlled the crowd in a proper way but instead, they resorted to baton charge, which resulted in many BJP supporters climbing on the makeshift marquee,” Basu claimed. “The poles of the tent fell as the ground was completely wet after the rain. Also, many people climbed atop the tent, which could not withstand their weight and it collapsed.”
The decorator told PTI that he was being made a scapegoat in a tussle between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress. “I had told party leaders and local security personnel to see that no one gets on top of the marquee,” Rajiv Kumar Singh said. “But, no steps were taken which resulted in the collapse of the structure, as it could not withstand the weight of so many people.”
A team of top security officials from the Centre will visit the state to investigate the circumstances leading to the tent’s collapse, PTI reported. The West Bengal Crime Investigation Department is assisting the investigation, an unidentified senior government official told the news agency.
Initial investigation revealed that a few iron frames used to set up the tent were rusty and most of the iron poles were not inserted in the ground properly, a senior police officer said.
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