Two women and a 12-year-old girl died in a stampede shortly after leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari left a programme organised by the local unit of the BJP to distribute blankets in West Burdwan’s Asansol on Wednesday evening.

Adhikari, who was the chief guest at the event, left the place around 6.30pm after addressing the gathering and distributing blankets to a few people. Once he left, around 5,000 people, mostly Hindi-speaking women, began to converge at the venue that could hold barely 1,500 people and jostled to get the blankets.

Soon chaos descended on the small field adjoining a temple in the town’s Ramkrishna Dangal area, which is ward No. 27 and is represented by BJP councillor Chaitali Tiwari, wife of former Asansol mayor Jitendra Tiwari. The deceased were identified as Chandmani Devi Yadav, 54, Jhali Devi Bauri, 50, and Preeti Singh, 12.

All of them were taken to Asansol district hospital where they were declared dead on arrival. Seven people are undergoing treatment. Sources said the organisers had a target to distribute around 5,000 blankets but the venue was inadequate to accommodate such a large crowd.

Although it was pitched as a religious event, BJP leaders in Asansol, including Jitendra Tiwari, were present. The police accused the organisers of holding the event without their permission. Commissioner of Asansol-Durgapur Sudheer Nilakantam said the police did not give permission for the event.

“There was no police permission to hold the programme and we will start a case against the organisers,” he said. The organiser of the event, Jitendra Tiwari, said they had sought permission from the police and an application was submitted on December 3.

“We informed the police on December 3 in writing about holding the mega religious event. The police did not disallow us from holding the event,” Jitendra Tiwari said. Trinamul MP Abhishek Banerjee lashed out at Adhikari.

“Suvendu promised us a “DECEMBER DHAMAKA’ on the 12th, 14th and 21st. THIS IS HOW IT WENT: 12thDEC — Lalan Sk was found dead in CBI CUSTODY. 14thDEC — INNOCENT LIVESWERE LOST in Asansol due to the chaos created by him. Is something more TRAGIC in store for DEC 21?” he wrote on Twitter. “Suvendu thinks he is above law and the police will not be able to touch him,” Trinamul state secretary Kunal Ghosh said.

Adhikari tweeted about the incident, referring to it as “unfortunate, sorrowful and tragic”. He said he did not want to blame anyone for the tragedy while adding he had been informed by the organisers that police personnel, including civic volunteers, were withdrawn from the venue after he left.

“I am with the bereaved families.... I am praying for the quick recovery of those who got injured. I along with my local associates would certainly extend all help to the mat this time. I will be meeting them very soon,” Adhikari said. He also tweeted the letter of intimation sent by the organisers to the Asansol police on December 3.