Watch: 7 women suffer burns as cracker explodes during Ganesh idol immersion in Maharashtra

NAGPUR: A fire cracker show during the immersion procession of Umred Cha Raja Ganpati at Iwaripeth in Umred, around 60km away from Nagpur, went horribly wrong after a rocket landed among a crowd of women enjoying the spectacle. The explosion in the middle of the crowd left seven women injured with burns, including three serious, late on Thursday evening.

The Umred police, which initially tried to hush up the matter, had to swing into action following the intervention of SP Harssh A Poddar. They took into custody the organiser of the Ganesh mandal, Prashant Jaiswal, along with reveller Shubham Nandanwar who had set off the cracker. The seriously injured women were identified as Sunita Devhare (57), Sanjeevani Dadmal (25), and Durga Wankar (55).





The women had thronged the Itwaripeth market to witness the procession. Nandanwar, who had been bursting crackers from the third floor of an adjacent building, had misfired one of the rockets, which descended into the crowd instead of darting towards the sky. The rocket exploded in the mob, triggered panic at the place where the drummers were in action in a big group.

"I heard the noise but did not know my mother (Sunita) was among the ones injured in the heavy rush, as people ran chaotically after the cracker explosion. Someone called me to say that my mother had suffered burns. The organisers and some others had rushed my mother and others to a nearby hospital, but some seriously injured, like my mother, had to be rushed to Nagpur for treatment," said Sunita's son Sagar, who too had gone to enjoy the spectacle of the immersion procession.

Sources said efforts were made to hush up the incident, with Umred police inspector Anil Raut refusing to take the matter seriously. SP Poddar's intervention too could not initially get an offence registered with strict legal provisions.

After an offence was registered by senior Inspector Raut under bailable sections, ignoring the gravity of the injuries, Poddar ensured cognizable offence under section 125(B) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered, which attracts three years of imprisonment and a fine of ₹10,000. SP Poddar, who visited the private hospital at Sakkardara to meet the patients and speak to the treating doctor, is learnt to have instructed sub-divisional police officer to report the lackadaisical approach of the senior PI before him for further action.

Dr Ashish Pongde, under whose supervision the treatment is underway, said three patients are in ICU while two are in the wards, but they are stable and are not requiring any life support.

"We would assess the injuries after a detailed investigation. One of the women has suffered injuries to the eye," said the doctor.