Contrary to the claims of tops officials on Tuesday that action will be taken against local preacher Sakar Narayan Hari or Bhole Baba, the first FIR registered in the case does not name him in the Hathras stampede case, where at least 121 people died and several others were injured at a religious gathering.
A First Information Report (FIR) registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110, 126(2) (wrongfully restrains), 223 and 238 (sausing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) has been registered against main sewaadar Devprakash Madhukar and other unidentified organisers and sewadsars.
“The organiser had sought permission for the gathering of about 80,000 devotees in the programme, hiding the situation of lakhs of devotees who had gathered in the previous programme of the said organisation. But a crowd of about 2.50 lakh people from different districts and nearby states had gathered. Traffic on the GT Road was blocked due to non-compliance of permission conditions,” reads the FIR registered on the complaint of Brajesh Pandey, Sub-inspector of Sikandrarao police station.
“After the sermon of the main preacher ‘Surajpal’ alias Bhole Baba, while leaving the venue at around 14:00 hours, the devotees started collecting dust/soil from the path of his vehicle. On the other side of the GT Road, the crowd kept getting crushed in the water and mud filled with water and mud about three meters deep in the field. The police present at the spot took the injured to the hospital, but there was no cooperation from the sewadaars. The evidence was fabricated by throwing away the belongings, clothes and shoes of the injured persons at the scene of the incident,” reads the FIR further.
Meanwhile, sources said that Sakar Vishwa Hari Bhole Baba, who reached the ashram in Bichhwa after the horrific accident in Sikandrarao of Hathras, did not come out on Tuesday night. The cops who went inside the ashram on Tuesday midnight had made the same claim after coming out. But the followers were saying that Baba was inside. After this, a convoy of vehicles came out of the ashram on Wednesday morning in which, there are speculations about Bhole Baba going out. However, some followers are still saying that Baba is inside the ashram.
Heavy police forces are positioned outside the ashram and some locals claimed that before going ahead with the arrest, senior officials were assessing the situation as the Baba has his own army of armed security and they might oppose the administration’s move.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh told reporters that overcrowding was one of the reasons behind the stampede at a religious congregation in Phulrai village.
According to Singh, after the satsang concluded, devotees began running after Bhole Baba's car, while others bent down to collect soil from the venue and fell. This led to a stampede, resulting in the loss of over 100 lives.
Singh added that it was some kind of ritual for the devotees to touch the self-styled godman's feet and collect "pair ki dhool" as a blessing after the satsang. "A huge police force was deployed at the satsang venue. I am told that people rushed to touch the feet of Bhole Baba and tried to take soil (of the path he walked on), causing the stampede and many people fell into a nearby drain," he disclosed, adding that the number of people present at the venue exceeded much more than the permitted limit. One eyewitness also claimed "Once they (the followers) were allowed to leave the venue, the crowd pressure became uncomfortable with hot and humid weather leading to suffocation and caused the stampede."
Meanwhile, a video that has gone viral on social media shows the godman leaving the venue in his car and hundreds of devotees running behind his car to gather the dust as a token of blessings. The crowd was gathered in the name of Manav Mangal Milan Sadbhavana Samagam. Preparations for this event were going on for the last several days. Some people had already arrived two days ago and camped. People had arrived in vehicles to participate in this event. There was a crowd of 1000 vehicles including small and big. The situation was such that a crowd of vehicles was seen for about 8 kilometers on the roadside.
Permission for this program was taken by Vedprakash, a resident of Fullerai village. In the application for permission, it was said that a crowd of 20 thousand people would join this satsang. An application was made to the SDM for permission. The SDM issued the permission after scrutiny but no arrangements were made there regarding the arrangements. While the situation was such that even the traffic was getting affected due to the crowd of vehicles on the highway. No traffic policeman was also deployed there. While there was a jam situation at many points.
Sources said that in its report, the police intelligence system had informed that more than 1.25 lakh people had gathered in the satsang. The LIU had also expressed the apprehension of an unpleasant incident, but even after this the responsible people did not take it seriously and the result came out. If the officers had paid attention to the report of the intelligence system in time, such a big accident would not have happened.
A total of 121 people have died in the stampede. Out of these, 102 have been identified while 19 have not been identified yet. Out of these, 38 bodies were brought to Aligarh, 34 to Hathras, 21 to Agra and 28 to Etah. Among the dead are one from Firozabad, 16 from Agra, 12 from Aligarh, 19 from Hathras, nine from Etah, nine from Kasganj. There is one from Gautam Buddha Nagar, one from Lalitpur, eight from Mathura, one from Sambhal, one from Anupshahr, six from Badaun, one from Pilibhit, four from Shahjahanpur, two from Auraiya, four from Bulandshahr. There are three dead from Faridabad, one from Palwal, one from Rajasthan, one from Gwalior.
