Hari Mukunda personally supervised every stone and every carving, modelling the shrine after Tirumala’s temple.
Published Nov 02, 2025 | 1:00 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 02, 2025 | 1:00 PM
Tragedy struck Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Kasibugga on November 1, 2025. Credit: x.com/titu_dipankar
Synopsis: 95-year-old priest Hari Mukunda Panda built a replica Sri Venkateswara temple in Kasibugga after a denied darshan at Tirumala. On Karthika Ekadasi, November 1, 2025, overcrowding caused a stampede, killing nine devotees. Facing negligence charges, Panda is haunted. Meanwhile, officials promise probes and safety reforms amid blame.
For priest Hari Mukunda Panda, now 95, the loss of nine lives in the stampede on 1 November at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Kasibugga, Srikakulam district, is something that will haunt him forever.
He seemed to feel all the pain that the grieving families were going through. When the tragedy struck, he was speechless. Struggling for words, he mumbled, “I never thought the crowd would be so large. Never anticipated a tragedy of this proportion would take place.”
Panda has spent his entire life in quiet service to Lord Venkateswara, the divine preserver whose idol on the distant Tirumala hills always stirred his soul. An ardent devotee since childhood, he made the pilgrimage to Tirumala every six months or at least once a year, through the crowded paths to the hill shrine.
About 10 years ago, everything changed. During one such visit to Tirumala, he found that Tirumala no longer appeared as sacred as it used to be. He purchased a Rs 350 ticket and waited in the long queue for nearly nine hours. But his turn never came. The sanctum doors were closed before he could have darshan. With a heavy heart, he stumbled out.
“We were not allowed inside the temple. We had to leave without darshan,” he later recalled in a TV interview. “Someone told us that if we wanted a quick darshan, we should get a recommendation letter from an MLA, MP, or minister. I do not know any of them. How can I get such letters?” he asked.
After returning to Kasibugga from Tirumala, he narrated his ordeal to his mother, who listened quietly and then said with finality, “Let us have the temple here itself. Bring Lord Srinivasa home, so that no one cries as you are doing now for not getting darshan.”
Those words ignited a fire in Hari Mukunda’s soul. His mother soon deeded 12.4 acres of family land in the name of Lord Srinivasa, making it permanently beyond the family’s claim.
Construction began modestly in 2017. Hari Mukunda personally supervised every stone and every carving, modelling the shrine after Tirumala’s temple. He spent his own money and the income from his mother’s orchards on the construction. From Tirumala itself came the idols — a towering nine-foot-nine-inch Venkateswara, flanked by Sri Devi and Bhu Devi — hewn from sacred stone and consecrated with traditional mantras. The temple materialsed on 30 April, 2025.
But on 1 November 2025, tragedy struck the temple. It was Karthika Ekadasi — the 11th day of devotion when pilgrims gather in large numbers. The temple, designed to accommodate 2,000 to 3,000 devotees, swelled to 15,000, then to nearly 25,000 — a tide no one foresaw.
The single narrow passageway meant for orderly queues was packed tight. Entry and exit shared the same iron-railed path, with a seven-foot drop on one side to the ground below.
Around 11:30 a.m., devotees exiting the sanctum collided with those still pressing to enter. The aluminium barricades buckled under the weight. Moments later, the railing gave way, and people tumbled down one upon another, their screams for help piercing the air.
By noon, the toll stood at nine — eight women, their saris dusted with the remnants of unfinished prayers, and a 13-year-old boy whose Ekadasi vow ended in eternity. 15 others were injured, many with fractured ribs, and rushed to the Palasa Government Hospital as anguished relatives wept beside them.
Police quickly cordoned off the site and registered a case against Panda for negligence. The temple, being private and unregistered under the Endowments Department, had no official permissions, no crowd-control measures, and no barricades to manage such a rush.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu dispatched ministers to the scene, with Nara Lokesh personally consoling the bereaved families. President Droupadi Murmu offered prayers for the departed souls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah expressed grief, while Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan described the incident as “deeply distressing.”
A day later, as the dust began to settle, the blame game began. The police claimed they had received no prior intimation about the large gathering. But Hari Mukunda contradicted them, saying he had indeed informed the authorities about the importance of Ekadasi and the likelihood of a heavy crowd. Even if one assumes his warning was overlooked, it is difficult to believe the police could have missed a congregation of nearly 25,000 people unless they were in deep slumber.
As is often the case, the police arrived only after the tragedy had unfolded — when bodies lay scattered and relatives wailed over their loved ones. Flowers, coconuts, and pooja materials lay strewn across the temple premises, silently bearing witness to the horror that had taken place only moments earlier.
As the reports poured in that the government was going to close down the temple, Lokesh stepped in. “It is unfair to say the government will close the temple. Rituals and corrections will have to be done. This was an unfortunate incident. As for the temple’s management, the Cabinet will take a collective decision. A three-member committee has been constituted to investigate the stampede, and once we receive its report, we will act,” Lokesh said.
He further said, “Harimukunda is 95 years old. He built the temple brick by brick with his own money. We will handle this matter sensitively. We are not brushing aside our responsibility. We will look into why this happened and ensure the safety of temples. We have directed SPs and collectors to review safety at all temples, geo-tag them, improve queue management systems, and install CCTV cameras with analytics.”
However, many believe Lokesh’s assurance may end up as yet another knee-jerk reaction. After mishaps at Tirumala and Simhachalam, similar committees were formed and promises made to enhance safety, only to fade away with time.
If past experience is any guide, the Kasibugga tragedy too may soon slip into oblivion, leaving behind an old priest haunted by the cries of the devotees whom he only wanted to bring closer to the Lord.
(Edited by Amit Vasudev)
