Police aspirant killed in stampede
Over 10,000 police aspirants learnt the bitter way consequences of not maintaining the basic order among themselves on Monday.
They shoved, pulled and fell over each other in a mad rush to submit application forms at a recruiting centre at Kalina in North West Mumbai, leading to the death of one candidate and hurting at least 11 others in the resultant stampede.
The deceased has been identified as Ramesh Gopinath, 22, from Ahmednagar district. The injured have been admitted to hospital.
The state government had invited applications for 3,200 vacant posts of constables and opened the recruitment process at five centres across the metropolis. Over 10,000 candidates had gathered at Kalina since Sunday night. When the gate was opened, the candidates rushed in to submit their forms.
They jumped over the barricades set up on the ground and fell on one another as well as on the police personnel who were trying to stop them, police said. The candidates had come from various parts of the state in the hope of submitting the forms. However, after the incident, a sense of depression set in the VN Desai Hospital where some of the injured were admitted.
Twenty-four-year-old Kiran Choudhary said he lost all original documents of his educational qualifications during the melee. He hoped the police would help him find them. “I have four sisters and have to get them married. I was heavily banking on this job. Now, my hopes are shattered,” he said. There was not enough police “bandobast” at the spot.
Vinayak (22), another injured admitted to hospital, said there was too much confusion at the window and there was no one to “direct us.” There were no police officers to maintain the queue. His physically disabled brother said: “Our family was hoping that Vinayak would get this job.”
“What will I do now? Our entire family depended on him,” said the father of Ramesh Gopinath, who died in the melee.
