A day after the stampede at a festival in Mithibai College, witnesses and victims of the incident lashed out at the organising team on Friday. The college authorities, meanwhile, washed their hands off the matter, blaming the attendees for the incident.

The stampede occurred in the college on Thursday night during Colosseum, the annual festival of Bachelors of Management Studies (BMS) Department.

Eight students were injured, and four of them are still admitted to Cooper Hospital in Vile Parle.

Students and eyewitnesses told The Hindu that the crowd at the venue, Jashodha Rang Mandir, was not managed properly. “There were way too many people outside and inside the venue, which is an open ground. I arrived inside through another gate a little after the event had started. There was complete chaos and not enough people to handle the crowd,” a 19-year-old student of Mithibai College said on the condition of anonymity.

Students who were injured in the incident said they had acquired their passes in advance, but only some were allowed in and others were not.

The college authorities, however, said the students were fans of the rapper Vivian Fernandes aka Divine, and tried to gatecrash because they thought they were invited, as the rapper had posted about his performance on social media. “They barged into the gate and our security team stopped them. These students did not have passes,” Dr. Rajpal Hande, principal, Mithibai College, said.

He said, “The venue has a capacity to accommodate 4,500 people. We have 1,500 passes still with us, which means we only sold 3,000 passes. From where the injured students got their passes is unknown.”

Meanwhile, three students admitted to the surgical intensive care unit were moved to the general ward after their condition stabilised. “David Bangera, who was critically injured, may require proper rehabilitation for six months before he can get back to day-to-day work,” an official from Cooper Hospital said.

In a statement on Friday, Divine said, “What happened … yesterday was extremely unfortunate. The moment my team and I learnt of the situation unfolding outside, we got off stage and let the college authorities and police bring the situation under control. I wish everyone who was injured a speedy recovery.”

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Santacruz division) Dattatray Bhargude said inquiries were under way and no case has been registered as yet.

Recalling the incident, Kunal Chavan (17), one of the injured students, said, “I am a follower of Divine and I had obtained my pass eight days prior to the performance. On Thursday, the organisers allowed some people in and barred others. People then started pushing each other. I fell on my back and people ran over me.”

Hitesh Kambli (20), another injured student, had also acquired passes in advance. “We were really excited about the event, and did not expect this to happen. Two of my friends went inside, while I remained outside when the incident happened,” he said.

Mr. Kambli’s uncle, Nandkishore Parsekar, asked why the organisers had invited more people than the capacity of the venue. “Who will take responsibility for this accident?”

Mr Chavan’s father, Prakash Chavan, also said the students were not at fault. “The college is blaming our children, who went in with their passes. Blaming us is like rubbing salt into our wounds.”