Stampede kills two in Mathura temple

Mathura : Two women died early Sunday as massive crowds thronged the Radha Rani temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura district, police said.

“Two female pilgrims died separately, one of a heart attack, and another of injury caused by slipping on the stairs,” Senior Superintendent of Police (Mathura), Padmja, told IANS.

Thousands of pilgrims thronged the holy shrine in Barsana village on the birthday of Radha Rani, celebrated as Radha-Ashtmi all over the Braj region, around Mathura and Vrindavan, the leelabhoomi (playground) of Sri Krishna and Radha.

Eye-witnesses said the stampede was caused due to heavy rush and limited time for ‘darshan’ of the presiding diety, who is known to be the beloved of Sri Krishna.

The special ‘darshan’ of the diety opened around 5 a.m.

“The post-mortem reports are awaited,” Padmja added.

Senior police officials from Mathura have reached Barsana to oversee the arrangements.

More than five lakh pilgrims Sunday visited Barsana, which homes hardly 5,000.