Sabarimala tragedy: Kerala police submits report

Kerala Director General Police Jacob Punnose and Travancore Devaswom Board on Thursday filed reports before the Kerala high court on the stampede at Pullmedu in Vandiperiyar in idukki district, which claimed the lives of 102 Sabarimala pilgrims. The report was filed before the division bench comprising Justice Thothathil B Radhakrishnan and Justice P S Gopinathan.

Expressing displeasure over neglect of warnings on the safety of Sabarimala pilgrims, the bench had on Monday pulled up the state government and directed police, forest department and board officials to file reports by Wednesday.

The bench had on January 5 asked the authorities to regulate the flow of pilgrims to avoid disasters like stampede and had observed that there had been lack of co-ordination among various departments involved in conduct of the festival at Sabarimala, which attracts millions of pilgrims during the two-month long season from mid-November.

"We want to know what had happened. Explain how the mishap occurred," the judges had said while issuing the direction.

The stampede had occurred on January 14 as devotees were returning after witnessing the Makara Jyothi at Pullmedu in Vandiperiyar in Idukki district.