A 40-year-old woman was killed and several others injured in a stampede when a group of over 5,000 people congregated at a function hall in Bamboo Bazaar to collect free ration being distributed by a city-based philanthropist on Wednesday.
The deceased has been identified as Zeenathunnisa, a resident of DJ Halli. The injured were admitted to Bowring Hospital and discharged after being given first-aid treatment, a senior police officer said.
According to the police, the group had gathered at AKP convention hall to collect the token for free ration. As thousands of people turned up, the management could not control the crowd and stopped distributing the tokens.
Angry with this, people who had queued up outside started barging into the hall, resulting in a stampede.
The Shivaji Nagar police rushed to the spot and dispersed the crowd before shifting the injured to the hospital, where Zeenathunnisa succumbed.
Sensing trouble, the organisers fled the scene. The Shivaji Nagar police have taken up a case of unnatural death and further investigations are on.
