More than 100 people were killed after a stampede broke out at a religious event by a self-styled godman, Bhole Baba aka Narayan Saakar Hari, in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras.
Self-styled godman ‘Bhole Baba’ aka Narayan Saakar Hari is likely to be arrested soon after more than 100 people, most of them women, died in a stampede at his ‘satsang’ (religious congregation) in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras on Tuesday.
‘Bhole Baba’, whose original name is Suraj Pal, is believed to be at his ‘ashram’ in Mainpuri, about 100 km from the Phulrai village, where he held the doomed event attended by lakhs of devotees.
Many senior police officials are at the Hathras stampede site, while others are at his ashram, the Ram Kutir Charitable Trust. Besides police personnel, an NDTV team at the ashram also saw his followers in large numbers.
An investigation team and a canine squad went to the stampede scene in Hathras. In attendance were teams from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC).
In Hathras, there were at least 121 fatalities and 28 injuries from the stampede, including more than 100 women and seven children.
A compensation of ₹ 2 lakh each has been announced for the families of the victims and ₹ 50,000 for the injured.
How Hathras Stampede Happened
The area where the Hathras stampede took place was reportedly too small to hold the large number of people who had assembled there on Tuesday afternoon, according to officials.
As Narayan Saakar Hari was departing from the “satsang,” his followers hurried to gather dust from the tire tracks of his vehicle. This set off the stampede that crushed hundreds of people underfoot.
His aides, known as ‘sevadars’, stopped the crowd from approaching the ‘godman’ and the rushing people fell on each other, suffocating the ones below, officials said.
Pious individuals had traveled from nearby states and different districts of Uttar Pradesh to attend the “satsang.”
A committee of high standing has been established to look into the incident.
The panel will be headed by the Additional Director General of Police, Agra, and the Aligarh Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said.
Case Against Hathras Satsang Organisers
A case has been filed against the ‘satsang’ organisers in Hathras, officials said. According to the FIR, permission was granted for 80,000 people but more than 2.5 lakh devotees attended the event.
“Devotees sitting on the ground were crushed as a result of the unruly crowd exiting the venue. The FIR stated that the organizing members used sticks to forcefully stop the crowd running through muddy fields and water on the opposite side of the street.
“The police and administrative officers on the scene did everything they could to get the injured people to the hospital with the resources at their disposal. It went on, “But the organizers weren’t cooperative.”
Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 223 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by the public servant), and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the new criminal code Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) have been used to charge them.
Godman Behind Hathras ‘Satsang’
It has been frequently asserted by Narayan Saakar Hari that he was employed by the Intelligence Bureau. He also disclosed to his followers that he had a tendency toward spirituality even while he was employed and that he had quit in the 1990s in order to follow his spiritual path.
Born in Bahadur Nagari village in Uttar Pradesh’s Etah district to a farmer, Nanne Lal, and Katori Devi, he completed his initial studies in the village.
He was allegedly a head constable for the Uttar Pradesh police’s Local Intelligence Unit.After quitting the police force in 1999, he went by Narayan Saakar Hari.
He claims he began working for the Intelligence Bureau after college and turned towards spirituality during his time there.