Lucknow: The toll in the stampede, which broke out at a religious event in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras last evening, touched 121 on Wednesday.
The deceased include over 100 women and seven children.
According to the Office of the Relief Commissioner, 28 more have been injured in the incident.
The tragedy occurred around 3.30 pm during a ‘satsang’ of Bhole Baba aka Narayan Saakar Hari was being attended by over two lakh people at Fulrai village under Sikandrarau police limits of Hathras district,. There was a rush among his followers as his was leaving the venue to collect dust from his car’s tyre trail, leading to the stampede.
A case has been registered against a close aide or ‘mukhya sewadar of the self-styled godman, Devprakash Madhukar, and the organisers of the event under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 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), 238 (causing disappearance of evidence). The First Information Report or FIR, however, does not name Bhole Baba as an accused, according to a NDTV report.
The FIR further stated that more than 2.5 lakh devotees attended the event though permission was granted for 80,000 people. It alleged that the organisers hid the actual number of devotees coming to the ‘satsang’ while seeking permission, did not cooperate in traffic management and hid evidence after the stampede. “On the other side of the road, the crowd running in the water and mud-filled fields behind baba’s car was forcibly stopped by the organising committee with sticks, due to which the pressure of the crowd kept increasing and women, children, and men kept getting crushed,” it added.
A forensic unit also inspected the Hathras stampede site. “I will not be able to tell what we have found. There are no specific things to collect from here; it is only the belongings of the devotees such as shoes and sheets used for sitting,” a unit member told ANI.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Sunil Kumar said Bhole Baba could not be found at his ashram, the Ram Kutir Charitable Trust in Mainpuri district. “We did not find Baba ji inside the campus…He is not here…” he was quoted as saying.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured. A committee has also been set up to investigate the incident on the direction of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Meanwhile, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea has been filed before the Allahabad High Court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the stampede incident.
