Six reply to notices in Ratangarh temple stampede case

GWALIOR: Six out of a total 15 people submitted their replies to the judicial commission probing the Ratangarh temple stampede in response to notices sent by it.

The notices were served to 15 people including the then Superintendent of Police (Datia) C S Solanki, District Magistrate (Acting) Sandeep Makhen, ADM Suresh Sharma, two SDOPs and others, out of whom six submitted their replies yesterday while others sought some more time for compliance.

The commission's chairman, Justice (retd) Rakesh Saxena allowed them to submit their replies between January 2 and 8,2014.

The Ratangarh stampede on October 13 this year had claimed 116 lives and left many injured. Later, a judicial probe was ordered into it giving time limit upto March 2014 to find if there were any lapses which caused the incident.

The stampede is also being probed separately by CBI following a direction by Gwalior bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court. A CBI team comprising DSP KS Negi and others was in Datia last week to record the statements of the affected persons.