Rahul Gandhi to meet Datia stampede injured

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi would Thursday visit the injured admitted to a hospital following a stampede at Ratangarh temple in Madhya Pradesh's Datia district, leaving 111 people dead.

Ghannshyam Singh, Congress leader and ex-MLA, Datia told IANS, "Rahul Gandhi would be visiting the injured today (Thursday) afternoon at around 2.40 p.m in the hospital."

He added, "Earlier he (Gandhi) was suppose to meet them in the morning, but it was shifted to noon."

Gandhi would address two public rallies in Madhya Pradesh after visiting the hospital, said party officials.

The Congress vice president will first speak at the Lalpur Ground in Shahdol, and then at the Mela Ground in Gwalior, ahead of the assembly poll in November.

The dead, in Sunday's horrific stampede at a Durga temple at Ratangarh, a forested area of Datia, 390 km north of here, included 47 women and 33 children.

The stampede at the Ratangarh temple on the last day of the Navratras was triggered by a rumour that the bridge to it over the Sindh river had collapsed, and also because of the subsequent use of force by the police personnel to control the crowd.

Women and children were trampled in the stampede, while many people jumped into the fast flowing river below.

Seventeen policemen, including three senior officers, have been suspended for dereliction of duty.