Death toll in Kubereshwar Dham rises to 7; MP human rights panel seeks probe

Bhopal, Aug 7 (PTI) The death toll in religious incidents at Kubereshwar Dham in Madhya Pradesh's Sehore district earlier this week touched seven after two persons succumbed on Thursday, officials said.

Sehore district public relations officer Devendra Ogare told the PTI Anil (40), a resident of Khera Kala in Delhi, and Upendra Gupta (22), from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, who had come to take part in the ongoing rudraksha distribution and Kanwar Yatra, died during the day.

Doctors have said the two died of heart attack, Ogare added.

On Wednesday, the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission (MPHRC) acting chairperson Rajiv Tandon asked the Sehore collector and SP to conduct a probe and submit a report within 15 days, detailing crowd management measures, medical treatment provided to the injured and financial aid given to families of the deceased.

A "stampede" took place on Tuesday during 'rudraksha' distribution in Chitawaliya Hema village at Kubereshwar Dham, associated with schoolteacher-turned-preacher Pradeep Mishra (48), as per officials.

It led to the death of Jaswanti Ben (56) of Rajkot in Gujarat and Sangeeta Gupta (48) of Uttar Pradesh' Firozabad.

On Wednesday, three more devotees died during a kanwar yatra led by Mishra, officials said.

They were identified as Dilip Singh (57) of Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Chatur Singh (50) of Gujarat and Ishwar Singh (65) of Rohtak in Haryana.

The three men died due to health-related issues reasons, Sehore Superintendent of Police Deepak Shukla said. PTI LAL GK BNM