Kolkata: Three persons -- one of them a child -- died during a stampede at a programme to distribute blankets in Bengal's Asansol today. Police sources indicated proper permission was not taken for a mass gathering. The Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, the BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, had attended the programme and the trouble started after he had left, the police said.
Reports say there was chaos as people jostled to get close to the dais where the organisers -- a religious organisation -- was distributing the blankets. Five people were injured and have been admitted in the hospital.
"Three persons were killed and five others were injured in the stampede. The injured people were hospitalised," news agency Press Trust of India reported, quoting an unnamed police officer.