Overview

• A BBC News Hindi report identified at least 82 fatalities across four stampede incidents on Mauni Amavasya, exceeding the 37 deaths officially acknowledged by Uttar Pradesh authorities.
• Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav accused the state government of providing “false statistics” and pressed for details on the source, authorization and accounting of cash compensation.
• The BBC found that 26 families received ₹5 lakh bundles without being counted among the dead, while 19 bereaved households said they had not received any compensation.
• Congress and the dia India Trinamool Congress joined calls for the government to publish the names of all victims and ensure transparent, uniform disbursements to survivors’ families.
• Critics alleged that officials altered recorded causes of death, raising wider questions about crowd-management failures and information control during the 45-day Maha Kumbh Mela.