Chennai: Four elderly women died on the spot and eight others sustained injuries in a stampede during distribution of tokens for free dhotis and sarees in Vaniyambadi Town in Tirupattur district of Tamil Nadu last evening.
The tragedy occurred at an oil mill building when a large number of people, including women, from surrounding villages vied with each other to get their tokens which would be distributed to about 2,000 people on first-cum-first basis.
The deceased were identified as S.Valliammal (60), J. Rajathi (62), C.Nagammal (60) and L. Malliga (75), all from the nearby villages.
Eight people, who suffered injuries in the stampede, and were taken to the Government Taluk Hospital in Vaniyambadi for treatment.
The owner of the private oil mill, Ayyappa, was arrested by the police following the incident.
For more than a decade, Ayyappa has been distributing free dhotis and sarees to about 2,000 people regularly after Pongal festival every year.
Police said permission was given to the mill owner only to issue free dhotis and sarees today and no permission was issued for distribution of tokens.
However, police said unlike earlier when tokens and free distribution were held in open space, this time, the organiser of the event had built a compound wall around the oil mill.
As a result, the beneficiaries were unable to enter the premises freely, with one another pushing themselves in the crowd to get the tokens, resulting in the stampede, police said. (UNI)