New Delhi: When Seema Rani and her family decided to visit Prayagraj from Gujarat to attend the Maha Kumbh Mela, they expected everything to go smoothly, as promised by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath. But their trip to the largest religious gathering in the world turned into a bitter and frustrating experience as Rani and her brother-in-law were robbed within a few minutes of each other. Their misery was compounded by alleged official apathy.
“We were visiting Prayagraj with confidence in the administration and their arrangements, after seeing all advertisements by honourable Chief Minister Sri Adityanath Yogiji regarding safety and security. There was neither safety nor security, this was a heartbreaking response from Uttar Pradesh Police/prashasan (sic),” Rani wrote in her police complaint on the basis of which an FIR was lodged.
Rani, who hails from Jamnagar, said that on January 14, at around 4:10 am her brother-in-law’s mobile phone was stolen by someone while they were taking a holy dip at the Sangam. Her gold chain with a heart-shaped locket was also snatched by a woman, who pulled her hair from behind. “Both incidents happened within 3-5 minutes,” recounted Rani.
That’s not where the family’s ordeal ended. Rani said they struggled to get the police to take prompt action. She first went to the women’s police station in the Mela and met the officer-in-charge and requested them to check the CCTV footage but the police allegedly did not respond. A call to the Maha Kumbh helpline was also of little help. She said she dialled the number but the policeman did not reach her for an hour. It was only after the circle officer “shouted” at him that he came to the police station, said Rani, adding that the police noted down her complaint in a rough register and went away. “No one was helping, everyone was saying you should not bring this type of item here. All policemen were saying we are temporarily posted, cannot help,” said Rani in the FIR.
Also read: Is 2025 Maha Kumbh Really a ‘Rare’ Event Held After 144 Years?
She alleged that the police refused to sign and stamp the application written by her and asked her to go to the cyber police station. But the road the family had taken was closed and they did not know how to find the spot where their vehicle was parked. “Everyone was sitting near the fire and enjoying themselves. After spending 4-5 hours here and there, I returned with no hope, without snan and a loss of more than 2 lakh (sic),” Rani said. She concluded that all arrangements at the Mela were made to make the public run “between thieves and lootera gangs.” “I don’t want to criticise but this is the reality I have faced,” said Rani, ending her complaint with a Jai Shri Ram.
Rani’s account is among the more than 300 reported incidents of crime that have taken place in the Kumbh Mela since it began on January 13. The Wire went through more than 315 First Information Reports (FIRs) lodged at two police stations – Daraganj and Kumbh Mela Kotwali – and found that an overwhelming majority of crimes recorded were related to theft and snatching.
In most cases, the visitors were robbed of their mobile phones, cash, jewellery and bags. Some two-wheelers were also stolen. A few cases of digital financial fraud were also reported as were cases of injury due to rash driving, kidnapping of a child and use of fake currency.
Uttar Pradesh police said that they had so far taken cognisance of 12 cases where people had spread misleading and fake posts, videos and photos related to the Mela, in particular the stampede, and taken action against 171 social media profiles. Most of these cases were related to misrepresentation of mishaps and accidents in other places, including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, and linking them to alleged mismanagement of the Mela.
The police lodged an FIR against an Instagram account for posting indecent videos of women bathing and changing clothes at the Mela. A case was also lodged against a Telegram channel on February 19 for selling online secretly-shot videos of women bathing at the ghats.
However, most of the cases lodged at the Mela were linked to thefts of valuable items, a major inconvenience in a crowded place such as the Kumbh. According to the UP government, more than 59 crore people have attended the Mela this year.
The victims ranged from common devotees to sadhus, people of privilege and authority, and from local residents to Indians from other states and foreign tourists.
Many victims of theft felt that they were targeted by an organised gang or group of thieves. Ramesh K.T., an inspector in CID, Karnataka, along with his family, arrived at the Mela by bus on the night of February 11. The next morning, around 6 am, when they were at the Sangam ghat for a holy dip, a group of miscreants created a commotion in the crowd. In the ensuing rush, someone attempted to snatch his wife’s gold chain, said Ramesh. Since she was alert, she managed to protect it. However, amid the chaos, they snatched Ramesh’s gold chain, weighing 20 g and valued at around Rs 2 lakh.
“At the time of the incident, my immediate concern was to ensure my wife’s safety from these miscreants, which provided them the opportunity to snatch my chain,” said Ramesh. The Karnataka police inspector alleged that he did not get a prompt response from the police at the location after he informed them about the incident.
A visitor from Telangana, H.V. Pavithra lost her gold chain on February 18. She suspects she was a victim of a planned theft. She said four women followed her and fell on her in the crowd near Triveni Marg. It was then that she found that her gold chain weighing 60 gms had gone missing. She said two out of the three suspects were women aged 30-35 while a third was a teenager who was wearing pink.
Also read: The Politicisation of Maha Kumbh: Where Will It End?
Vishal Gupta, a Prayagraj resident, had two mobiles stolen from his family at the upper sangam area at 6 am on February 16. He said that he was going towards the Sangam along with his family members when some people created a sudden rush in the crowd. The next thing Gupta realised was that two mobile phones were missing from his handbag. “It looks like they are [a] group of professionally trained thieves and using this modus operandi to steal the mobiles of innocent Sangam goers,” Gupta said in his official complaint.
Italian tourist Sebastiano Benegiamo lost all his valuables, including important documents, when his bag was stolen while he was taking a dip at the sangam on February 16. He said his friend was guarding his belongings but an “organised group forcefully distracted” his friend and stole his bag. It had his passport, phone, credit cards and money in it. “Without [a] valid passport in hand, I am now unable to lodge anywhere legally, take transport, or live, and I urgently need a temporary paper to replace my passport until I make arrangements with my embassy,” Benegiamo said.
The Mela is also known for housing Kalpwasis – pilgrims who spend a month living a minimalist life in flimsy tents at the ghats of the Sangam, listening to religious discourses, giving alms and eating simple food. A study funded by the UK-based Economic and Social Research Council and conducted by experts from five universities, including Allahabad University, before the 2013 Maha Kumbh Mela, found that Kalpwasis return home healthier and happier after their period of Kalpwas.
This would have been true for Vaishni Kesarwani and her family had someone not stolen a handbag carrying their valuables from the back of their car on the day they were supposed to return home from the festival. Kesarwani spent 15 days (January 31-February 14) participating in the Bhagwad Katha and prasad seva at a Kalpwasi tent in Sector 6 of the Mela. Her in-laws were engaged in Kalpwas under a local priest. On February 14, Kesarwani’s in-laws decided it was time to go home to Lohgara in Prayagraj after 34 days of Kalpwas.
Before leaving for home, they planned to take a Ganga snan. After reaching the main road from the tent subway, their car hit a technical snag and was stuck on the road. Kesarwani’s in-laws and sister carried on with the snan while she and her husband stayed back and tried to get the car repaired. After her in-laws returned from their holy dip, Kesarwani and her husband left to take a dip themselves. It was around 9:30 am. Her handbag, carrying her documents, cash, jewellery and medicine, was kept on the back seat of the car. Her father-in-law was resting on the front seat. Around 11 am, when Kesarwani returned from the Sangam, she found that the handbag was not on the seat. It had been stolen.
A visitor R. Prabhakar alleged that the boatman who escorted him to the Sangam for a holy dip stole his bag and mobile phone when he was busy in the waters.
Sidhant Sehgal, who visited the mela on January 19, had his phone stolen near the Parade police station. He provided an elaborate description of the suspected thief: a boy probably aged 13-14, about five feet tall, dark complexion, thin face, oiled-up hair and a full sleeve t-shirt.
“I was not able to catch him as I had my kid in my hand,” said Sehgal. Sunil Agarwal was robbed in a similar manner. A person walked off with his trousers and other belongings when he was carrying his children during a bath.
Lt. Colonel Harleen Chopra, posted at the military hospital in Jabalpur Cantonment, had her iPhone stolen when she was moving on the road near Akbar’s Fort at the sangam. Chopra was worried that the important information and sensitive documents in her phone could be misused given her army background. “Hence it is essential to retrieve my phone not just because of personal sentiment but also to prevent leak of sensitive official information,” the officer said. Oman resident Deepti Vapodra lost valuable documents, including her Muscat identity card, when her bag was stolen during a snan.
Some visitors also fell prey to financial and digital frauds in the midst of the mela. Nitin Kumar, a constable on duty, lost more than Rs 60,000 when he agreed to share his screen on video with a fraudulent caller claiming to be from his bank. Saksham Awasthi paid a sum of Rs 5,184 to an online website to book a helicopter ride that never existed. A sadhu, Swami Biraanand lodged an FIR after people were lured into making payments to a fake google link issued in his ashram’s name.
Prem Bahadur Pun of Nepal had his mobile stolen but one of his friends managed to nab the thief, who was then beaten by the crowd. The thief was later hospitalised. A woman walked away with Bhagirathi Devi’s bag and other belongings when she was taking a dip. She lost her phone and Rs 24,000. “Due to my age and illness, I could not chase her,” said the Uttarakhand native.
A woman pilgrim Sunita had her right hip injured and leg fractured after a car owned by a sadhu hit her on January 15. A case was registered against an unknown person for rash driving.
