Two Killed As Crowd Surges At Mangala Aarti In Banke Bihari Temple

Vrindavan, August 20 (TNA) Two persons have been killed and half-a-dozen injured in a mishap caused by excessive crowd at the famous Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan in the wee hours of Saturday. The injured have been admitted to various hospitals. It is being said that thousands of devotees had reached the temple premises for the Mangala Aarti to be held once a year at 1.55 am in the morning on Shri Krishna Janmashtami.

Two devotees died as the temple had many times more people than the capacity of the devotees. In the accident, Noida Sector 99 resident Nirmala Devi, wife Dev Prakash and Rukmani Bihar Colony resident and native of Jabalpur Ram Prasad Vishwakarma (65) died.

Heavy police force including DM, SSP, Municipal Commissioner was present at the time when the accident happened in the temple. Soon after the accident, police and private security personnel started evacuating the fainting devotees from the temple. The devotees who were injured in this accident were sent to Rama Krishna Mission, Braj Health Care and Sau Shaiya Hospital in Vrindavan.