Two women dead, three injured in fall at religious gathering in Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore

Two women were killed and three people injured after a number of devotees fell at a religious gathering in Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore district on Tuesday (August 5, 2025), police said.

According to the police, the incident took place around 12 p.m. at Kubereshwar Dham of religious preacher Pradip Mishra due to overcrowding at the ashram.

Mr. Mishra, a popular religious figure, is scheduled to take out a Kanwar Yatra from his ashram on Wednesday (August 6, 2025) and had called upon devotees to join him, resulting in large crowds at the ashram.

Sehore Additional Superintendent of Police Sunita Rawat told The Hindu that during the distribution of Rudraksha (prayer beads), a woman in the front of a queue fainted and collapsed, due to which some other people also fell, causing injuries to some.

“There was no stampede but some people in a queue had fallen, leading to the incident,” Ms. Rawat said, adding that two people received minor injuries while one woman is currently critical.

The Additional SP said that the victims are yet to be identified.

Another senior officer said that about 50,000 to 60,000 devotees have been coming to the ashram every day during the month of Sawan, and that most of them hail from outside Madhya Pradesh.

“The responsibility of arrangements inside the ashram is on the management. The police and the administration had no role there. Outside the ashram, we have deployed over 400 police personnel for security but we have no role inside,” the officer said, requesting anonymity.

“Before reaching the ashram, they had gone to a river stream nearby to collect holy water by travelling 12 kilometres each side, and after that they stood in line amid the heat and humidity. This may have been the reason of the woman’s fainting,” he added.