An electric current swept through a crowd of devotees waiting outside a Ganesh pandal in central Mumbai at about 2:20 a.m. on Sunday, September 20, 2026, killing an eight-year-old girl and a 33-year-old woman and injuring four other people, officials said.
The victims were standing beside a temporary drinking water and cold drink stall set up at the entrance gate of the Kalachowki Vibhag Sarvajanik Utsav Mandal’s “Mahaganpati” pandal, in Digvijay Mill Chawl on Dattaram Lad Marg, in the Kalachowki neighborhood of the Lalbaug area. Thousands of people were in line for darshan through the night during the ongoing Ganesh festival when the current reached them.
Ragini Ghanshyam Yadav, eight years old, was declared brought dead at Masina Hospital in Byculla. Sujata Balraj Thodeti, 33, was declared brought dead at Global Hospital in Parel. The bodies of both were sent for post-mortem examination.
Ruhi Shailesh Singh, 12, remained in critical condition in the intensive care unit at Global Hospital. Three others — Kiran Akbar Naik, 19, of Thona Phatak, Karjat; Tanvi Naresh Hande, 19, of Karjat; and Sahil Sandip Tare, 19, of Bhiwandi — were treated at Masina Hospital and were reported to be stable.
Rescue in a Choked Lane
People at the spot cut the electrical supply to the stall and began pulling the injured clear. Mandal volunteers managing the queue took shocks of their own while helping, and an eyewitness said they pried the injured loose using wooden sticks taken from banners. The area around the stall was cordoned off as a precaution.
Rohan Rane, an activist with the mandal, was inside the pandal when word reached him. “First, we rushed them to the hospital, holding them in our arms and putting them in wheelchairs, making a way through the crowd,” he told ThePrint. “Later, we took them to hospitals on two-wheelers.” The injured were first taken to the adjoining Astha Nursing Home and then shifted to Masina Hospital and Global Hospital.
What Investigators Are Examining
Police and the fire brigade say a live or loose wire at the temporary beverage stall carried the current. The stall was fitted with three refrigerators and stocked with mineral water bottles, and it carried the branding of a well-known soft drink company. Local residents said a wooden board had been laid near the stall and that water had collected on it; that pooled water is alleged to have come into contact with the wiring.
A short circuit in the temporary electrical installation is suspected. Kalachowki police are still working to establish the source of the current and the condition of the installation. One eyewitness described a different sequence, saying the press of the crowd shoved people into the stall and snapped its iron supports, which may then have touched the current.
A Complaint From the Girl’s Mother
Kalachowki police have booked the operator of the stall, Kamal Shetty, for alleged negligence, invoking provisions 106(1) and 125(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The complaint was filed by Sangita Ghanshyam Yadav, 35, the mother of the girl who was killed.
The family had come to Lalbaug to see the Ganpati celebrations. They left Mankhurd at around 12:15 a.m. on September 20 and reached the area at about 1:30 a.m., walking along Dattaram Lad Marg past rows of temporary food and beverage stalls. According to the complaint, Ragini’s foot touched an electrical wire at a soft-drink stall at around 2 a.m. She collapsed, and others standing nearby were shocked as well. Doctors at Masina Hospital pronounced her dead before admission. She had been studying in Class III at Gopalpur Primary School in Uttar Pradesh.
Kismati Yadav, an aunt of the girl, said the family had stopped near a shop outside the mandap to let the crowd go past. “There were lights installed there, near the mandap. They should have taken care of safety. You are seating so many Ganpati idols, but there is no safety arrangement. The child we have lost will not be brought back,” she said.
Locals Point to the Crowds
Amardeep Gosavi, a former office-bearer of the mandal, said Dattaram Lad Marg had drawn massive crowds and put the number at 50,000 or more at the time. Police officials estimated that hundreds of thousands of people may have been in the Lalbaug area between midnight on Saturday, September 19, and the early hours of September 20.
Residents alleged mismanagement, saying the police presence on the road was too thin and the crowd was left uncontrolled. Through the Ganesh festival, they said, officers normally put up barricading once Saturday midnight passes, at the point where Dattaram Lad Marg meets Dr. Ambedkar Road, to slow the flow of devotees heading toward Kalachowki. At the time of the incident, a heavy rush in the “Mukh darshan” line bent and broke barricades, and the road outside the Mahaganpati gate was choked by crowds moving in both directions. The “Mukh darshan” queue for Lalbaugcha Raja stretches roughly 100 to 150 meters from that gate.