The Uttar Pradesh Police, on Thursday, arrested six satsang organisers in connection with the Hathras stampede which resulted in the tragic deaths of 121 people.
Aligarh IG Range Shalabh Mathur said, “Six people, including four men and two women, were arrested in the incident. The police identified the arrested individuals as Ram Kumar, Upendra, Megh Singh, Manju Yadav, Mukesh Kumar and Manju Devi. They all are members of the organising committee and worked as sevadars for self-styled godman ‘Bhole Baba’ aka Narayan Sakar Hari. They work to collect donations and gather crowds. They make all kinds of arrangements in the programme. Baba has not been questioned yet. If needed, he will be questioned.”
Mathur further said that a reward of Rs 1 lakh had been announced for information leading to the arrest of Dev Prakash Madhukar, a named accused who remains at large.
“It is also being investigated whether this is part of a conspiracy. When the crowd moved forward to take the dust of Baba’s feet, the sevadars left the crowd, after which this incident happened. These people ran away from the spot. They did not cooperate with the police,” he said.
Mathur added that these people stop people from making videos and they themselves do the work of crowd control. The IG claimed that till now 121 people have died due to stampede and all have been identified.
On Wednesday (July 3), Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered a judicial probe into the Hathras incident. While police registered an FIR against the organisers and the probe is underway, Narayan Sakar Vishwa Hari, (preacher who held a satsang on July 2) has not been named in the case.
Meanwhile, sources said that the named accused, Dev Prakash Madhukar, had informed Baba about the stampede. On checking the call details, the police found that ‘Bhole Baba’ received a call from organiser Dev Prakash Madhukar at 2:48 pm on Tuesday. In this, he was probably informed about the stampede. A call was made to Baba’s phone from number 70XXXXXX84. The conversation on this number lasted for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. After this, Baba’s phone location was found in Mainpuri ashram from 3 pm to 4:35 pm. During that time, Baba talked on three numbers. The first number 78XXXXXX40 belongs to Mahesh Chandra. Baba talked on this number for three minutes. The second number 88XXXXXX68 belongs to Sanju Yadav, on which he talked for only 40 seconds. The third number 70XXXXXX84 belongs to Ranjana. Baba talked on this number for 11 minutes 33 seconds. ‘Bhole Baba’s’ mobile phone was switched off after 4:35 pm. Ranjana is the wife of Dev Prakash, the organiser, from whose phone he probably talked. The other two numbers also belong to the organising committee members and among them Mahesh Chandra is said to be close to Baba. After this, the mobile phone of ‘Bhole Baba’ was switched off after 4:35 pm.
Sources also said that though the police officers claimed that they had so far no evidence of Baba’s role in the stampede, the police raided eight places in his search. A separate team of 40 policemen has also been formed. A Special Investigation Team is also engaged to find the accused. A heavy police force has also been deployed around Baba’s ashram in suspicion that he might have taken shelter there.
The sources also disclosed that Baba has a three-tier security. The men deployed for Baba’s security have been given a code word. The sevadars in pink dress are known as ‘Narayani Sena’, the personal security personnel (black commandos) accompanying Baba’s convoy are called ‘Garun Yodha’ and the sevadars wearing caps on their heads and brown dress are named ‘Hari Vahak’. Baba’s black commandos i.e. Garun Yodhas remain in groups of 20 each. The ‘Narayani Sena’ has groups of 50 each while the ‘Hari Vahak’ are in groups of 25 each.
