Kharghar tragedy: Autopsy reports confirm victims died of sunstroke

Mumbai: The post-mortem of those who died at a public rally in Kharghar, organised by the Maharashtra government and attended, among others, by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, has confirmed that sunstroke was the cause of death.

As per official figures, at least 14 people died after suffering from sunstroke during the event to present the Maharashtra Bhushan Award to Appasaheb Dharmadhikari. The honour was given by Shah in the presence of state Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. It was held in Kharghar, neighbouring Mumbai on Sunday.

"The autopsy was conducted on 12 out of the 14 deceased at the sub-district hospital in Panvel. The procedure confirmed that they died due to heat stroke," a medical officer attached to the facility said, adding that the post-mortem of two other victims was conducted at some other hospitals.

It was also found that two of these deceased also suffered from co-morbidities, he said. The 14 deceased included 10 women and four men, officials said.

Till late night on Sunday, they had confirmed 11 deaths in the incident. Two others died on Monday, while one more person - a woman - succumbed two days after the event.

Raigad civil surgeon Dr Suhas Mane said the post-mortem reports of 12 of the 14 deceased were available with the Panvel sub-district hospital.

The tragedy
The Maharashtra Bhushan award ceremony was held in an open ground called Corporate Park at Kharghar during the day. The event was attended by several lakh people, most of them followers of social worker Dattatreya Narayan Dharmadhikari,  popularly known as Appasaheb Dharmadhikari.

He has a massive following in the state due to his tree plantation drives, blood donation and medical camps as well as de-addiction work in tribal areas.

Lakhs of people from far-off Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat were brought to the venue in what was a show of political strength of the BJP-Shiv Sena combine ahead of the local body election. 

They were sitting under the sun for more than six hours, media reports said. While the police report denies any stampede, news reports said that there was a stampede-like situation after many complained of dehydration and fainted on the ground.

Political fire
The incident has ignited a political fire in the state with Opposition parties blasting the Eknath Shinde-led state government over the deaths, accusing it of mismanagement.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ajit Pawar has sought an inquiry into why the award event was organised around noon, while Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday accused the government of hiding the real number of victims, claiming that 50 to 75 people have died in the tragedy.

In response, Shiv Sena leaders Sanjay Shirsat, Bharatshet Gogawale and Kiran Pawaskar on Thursday registered a complaint against Raut claiming that he was spreading lies.

Uddhav Thackeray has called for a comprehensive and independent probe into the incident and asked for the punishment of those who decided to organise the event in the afternoon. "What's wrong is asking for the resignation of those responsible for the death of so many people," he asked.