Just a day after the Kochi City police said that the organisers of the tech fest conducted by the School of Engineering (SoE) of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) did not alert them or write to them seeking security for the event, a letter written by the Principal of SoE to the university Registrar requesting adequate security and deployment of police has emerged.
Four persons, including three students, were killed and scores injured in a stampede on the second day of Dhishna 2023, the three-day tech fest, on November 25, 2023 evening.
Just six policemen and a control room vehicle were present at the open-air auditorium on the Cusat campus when the stampede happened, which the police attributed to the lack of communication from university authorities asking for police security.
The letter by the SoE Principal to the Registrar had ‘Police and security arrangement during off-campus musical programme’ as its subject. A copy of the letter had also been marked to the head of the department of SoE and the security officer, Cusat.
The letter noted that the programme was confined to the SoE campus except two activities – two musical programme, one in front of the Amenity Centre on Friday, followed by the ill-fated music event that never took place due to the tragedy on Saturday.
“I understand that the students have received permission from the Registrar for these two off-campus activities. These activities have access to the public due to their location. Although I have arranged duties by faculty members for overall discipline, it is essential to deploy adequate security staff and police to avoid untoward incidents,” noted the letter dated November 24, 2023, a day before the tragedy.
The letter was wrapped up with a request to deploy adequate security and police for both the music programmes.
It is not yet clear whether the Registrar had passed on the letter to the police or not. The Registrar was not immediately available for comments.
However, according to the police, they never received any such letter. ADGP (Law and Order) Ajith Kumar had told the media after the stampede that the police were not alerted about the event. This was reiterated by Thrikkakara Assistant Commissioner P.V. Baby who heads the police special team probing the incident.
Asked whether the Registrar had passed on the letter to the police, Cusat Vice-Chanceller P.G. Sankaran declined to comment stating that it was all part of the three-pronged probe being declared by the university, the Higher Education department and the police into the incident. All these matters, including this letter concerned, will come under the purview of the probe, he said.
Mr. Sankaran said that the higher education team, including the technical director, investigating the incident is in the process of collecting information from all parties associated with the event, including the Principal and the faculty coordinator.
Earlier on Monday, the team visited the open-air auditorium where the stampede occurred.
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