Indore temple tragedy: Woman falls back into well as rope snaps during rescue operation; visuals surface

Indore: A shocking video from during the rescue operations in Beleshwar Mahadev Temple at Patel Nagar has emerged on social media. In the video, a woman being rescued falls into the caved part of the temple as the rope she is tied from snaps just as she was about to reach to safety.

The tragic incident that occurred on Thursday claimed at least 36 lives. The roof of a bawdi (stepwell) had caved in during a havan on the occasion of Ram Navami at Beleshwar Mahadev Temple in Patel Nagar.

The video has raised questions on the quality of rescue operation pointing out at the sloppy work by authorities:

The tragic incident

Devotees in large number gathered at the temple since Thursday morning on the occasion of Ram Navami. Havan was going on at the temple when roof of the bawdi caved in.

"There was a huge crowd of devotees on the roof of the bawdi. As the structure could not bear the load of so many people, it caved in," Kantibhai Patel, president of Patel Nagar Residents Association, who was eye-witness to the incident, said. "Around 35 devotees fell into the bawdi which was about 50 to 60 feet deep," said Indore police commissioner Makrand Deoskar, citing eyewitness accounts.

Case of culpable homicide

A case of culpable homicide has been registered against Beleshwar Temple trust president Sevaram Gulani and secretary Murli Kumar under section 304 and 34 of the IPC at Juni Indore police station.

CM faces the brunt of bereaved family

CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan reached the accident site on Friday morning, where he had to face the brunt of the angry family members of the deceased. Soon after, the CM ordered magestrial probe in the matter and instructed officials to identify all such stepwells across the city with illegal construction.