About 109 worshippers have been killed and 100 injured after police charged a crowd which resulted in a stampede. They were heading to temple to mark the last day of the festival of Navaratri, honouring the Mother Goddess Durga.
The Hindu festival-goers started to panic as they crossed a narrow bridge and then tried to escape. Worshippers retaliated by hurling stones and one policeman was badly injured.
The Hindu festival-goers started to panic as they crossed a narrow bridge and then tried to escape. Worshippers retaliated by hurling stones and one policeman was badly injured.
The dead are mostly women and children who were unable to escape the crowd and were crushed to death.
Deputy inspector general DK Arya appeared to deny that officers had caused the tragedy, saying police wielding sticks had charged the crowd in an effort to contain the panic at Ratangarh in Madhya Pradesh state.
'The death toll could go much higher as about 25,000 people were present on the bridge at that time.'
However, local devotee Atul Chaudhary, who survived the crush, told BBC Hindi there had been just a couple of thousand people on the bridge.
He said: 'Several people could be seen flattened to the ground in the midst of the melee.Some of the youngsters panicked and jumped into the swollen river.
'I and my friends were close to the exit point and along with several others ran for safety. Scores of others were not so lucky.'
Officials said the dead included 42 women, 30 children and 17 men.
The narrow bridge is about 500m long, and had only recently been rebuilt following another stampede in 2007.
Local media said 500,000 visitors had gone to the village in central India to celebrate.
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