By the time the stampede occurred at 6:40 am, Manmala Devi and her daughter had already been standing in the long queue at the Ashok Dham temple for over an hour, awaiting their turn. A regular at the temple, Manmala visited on the first and second Mondays of the ongoing Hindu month of Sawan.

“A large number of devotees got down after the train stopped and began entering the queue, increasing the pressure. It was then that the stampede broke out,” she said.

A 44-year-old resident of Barahiya, some 12 km away, Manmala fainted and was killed in the crush, while Pallavi sustained minor injuries. Manmala was one of seven people killed in a stampede near Ashok Dham Halt in Bihar’s Lakhisarai district on Monday morning, where a large number of devotees had gathered on the third Monday of Sawan. All seven deceased were women, officials said.

Twenty-five people were injured in the stampede, which officials said was triggered by a rumour that an electricity pole had fallen and live current was spreading near the railway halt, about a kilometre from the temple.

Although an electricity pole had fallen, officials said it was in a field and was carrying a covered cable, not an exposed wire. “Preliminary investigation has found that an electric pole had fallen in a field. People approaching from behind began shouting that an electricity pole had fallen. Around 100 metres ahead, women were standing in a queue. The announcement triggered panic, and as some people tried to move into the field to get away, they fell and were trampled,” Lakhisarai SDPO Shivam Kumar told . “Others following behind continued to move over them, resulting in the casualties.”

Although the train doesn’t usually halt here, the stoppage in the month of Sawan is meant especially for the temple’s devotees.

“The temple gates opened at 2.55 am, and while the initial crowds were manageable, it grew. When the rumour spread, it created additional pressure within seconds,” the official said.

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According to officials, the spread of the rumour led to barricades being broken. Besides Manmala Devi, the other deceased women have been identified as Rinku Devi, 50, of Safiasarai in Munger; Hemlata Devi, 55, Lalita Devi, 50, and Savita Devi, 35, all of Pratappur in Halsi; Saroj Devi, 65, of Bakawan in Patna; and Savitri Devi, 48, of Chanania in Lakhisarai. Three women are critically injured and have been moved to Patna Medical College and Hospital.

Relatives questioned crowd-management arrangements at the temple. There was a huge crowd because it was the third Monday of Sawan, and the administration should have made arrangements accordingly and increased its deployment,” Manmala’s relative said.

The district administration said Rs 4 lakh in ex-gratia compensation had been paid to the families of each deceased person, and arrangements had been made for the treatment of the injured.

A three-member inquiry committee has been set up to investigate the incident, officials said.

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Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and former CM Nitish Kumar expressed grief over the incident through social media posts. In his post on X, Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary described the incident at Ashok Dham as “extremely sad and heart-rending” and said he was deeply distressed by reports of devotees being killed in the accident.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly and national working president of the RJD Tejashwi Yadav blamed the incident on inadequate security arrangements and crowd management, saying it reflected the “administrative mismanagement” of the NDA government.