Can't avoid destiny, death is inevitable: Bhole Baba on Hathras stampede

Self-styled godman Bhole Baba on Wednesday said he is "very disturbed" by the Hathras stampede, but nobody can avoid what is destined and everyone has to die one day.

“Honee ko kaun taal sakta hai (who can avoid the inevitable),” he told PTI Videos, a fortnight after 121 people died in a stampede at a satsang (religious gathering) which he presided over.

“Jo aaya hai use ek din to jaana bhi hai, bhale hee koi aagey peechey ho,” he added. Roughly translated, this means that everyone has to die one day, only the time is not certain.

Bhole Baba, also known as Narayan Sakar Hari, whose original name is Surajpal, also repeated the claim made earlier by him through his lawyer A.P. Singh that there was a “conspiracy” behind the stampede.

"After the 2 July incident, I was very depressed and disturbed. But nobody can avoid what has to happen... What my lawyer and eyewitnesses said about the poisonous spray is completely true, there has definitely been a conspiracy," he said.

He further said there are some people who are trying to defame his organisation which runs on the basis of Sanatan dharma and truth. "We have full faith in the SIT (special investigation team) and judicial commission, and all the followers of the first Manav Mangal Milan Sadbhavana Samagam also believe that truth will come out and the conspiracy will be exposed," he said. The godman also said "we stand with the families of all those who died in the incident".

Earlier, his lawyer said Bhole Baba had reached his ashram at Bahadur Nagar village in Kasganj. "He has reached his ashram and will stay here. He came here from another ashram. He was never at anyone's place or any hotel or other country," Singh said. The lawyer added that the village is Baba's janmasthali (birthplace) and he last came here for a day in 2023.

The stampede at the satsang of Bhole Baba claimed 121 lives in the Sikandararu area of Hathras on 2 July. The Uttar Pradesh government has constituted an SIT and a judicial commission to probe the incident. The godman was not mentioned as accused in the FIR (first information report) lodged at Sikandrarau police station.

The SIT in its report submitted to the state government on 9 July did not rule out a "big conspiracy" behind the stampede. The report also flagged lapses on the part of the local administration that led to the stampede.

The report held the organisers responsible for the incident, claiming they did not make arrangements to manage the crowd and also fixed the responsibility of the administration, according to official sources.

Bhole Baba's lawyer had on 6 July claimed "some poisonous substance" sprayed by "some unidentified men" triggered the stampede. A separate judicial commission headed by retired Allahabad High Court judge Brijesh Kumar Shrivastava and with retired IPS officer Hemant Rao as member, is also probing the Hathras stampede.

Earlier, government agencies, including police, had blamed the organisers for the mismanagement at the event, noting that the size of the crowd exceeded 2.50 lakh as against the permitted 80,000.

So far, nine people, including key accused Devprakash Madhukar, have been arrested in connection with the stampede. Madhukar was the main organiser and fundraiser of the satsang at Phulrai village in Hathras.