Bhopal: A local court in Indore has acquitted the two accused in the 2023 Jhulelal temple tragedy in which 36 devotees were killed following collapse of the roof of the shrine well.
The two accused, the temple trust chairman Sevaram Gilani and secretary of the body Murali Kumar, were acquitted by the sessions court of Indore for want of evidence to establish that they were responsible for the mishap.
The tragedy occurred on March 30, 2023 in the ancient shrine of Beleshwar Mahadev, popularly known as Jhulelal temple, in Indore when hundreds of devotees gathered there on the occasion of Ram Navami festival.
Many devotees were performing havan rituals inside the temple when the floor, which was part of the roof of the temple well, had collapsed leading to death of 36 people and injuries to 16 others.
The roof of the well of the temple had collapsed without being able to withstand the weight of the people gathered on it.
The temple trust chairman and the secretary were booked in the incident and later arrested.
However, they were out on bail now.
The victims had fallen into the 60 ft-deep well when its cement cover collapsed and it took nearly three days to fish the bodies of all the 36 deceased devotees out of water.
Some of the devotees died after being stuck in the marshy base of the well.
Police had recorded statements of more than 150 eyewitnesses during the investigation into the incident.
The court in its judgment said that there was no evidence to establish that the two accused knowingly allowed the devotees to gather on the roof of the temple well on the Ram Navami Day despite sensing that it might collapse.
