Hathras stampede: 6 sevadars held, Baba to be grilled if required, say police

The Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday, 4 July, said they have arrested six members of the organising committee of preacher Bhole Baba's 'satsang' in connection with the Hathras stampede that killed 121 people.

The arrested include two women.

The only accused named in the FIR is at large while Surajpal, who is also known as Narayan Sakar Hari and Bhole Baba, will be questioned if required during investigation, a senior officer said.

A total of 121 people, mostly women, died after the stampede at self-styled godman Baba Bhole's satsang in Hathras on Tuesday.

The bodies of all victims have been identified and handed over to their families, District Magistrate Asish Kumar said here on Thursday.

The police entered Bhole Baba's ashram premises in Mainpuri and later said he was not present there. A police official said they had gone there to check the security arrangements.

Police personnel have been deployed outside the ashram since the stampede took place at the preacher's congregation in Harthras.

Meanwhile, inspector general of police (Aligarh range) Shalabh Mathur told reporters in Hathras on Thursday that all six persons who have been arrested worked are 'sevadars' (volunteers) at the 'satsang'.

"A reward of Rs 1 lakh will be announced soon and non-bailable warrant (NBW) will also be issued against key accused Devprakash Madhukar," Mathur said.

The preacher, Surajpal, was not mentioned as an accused in the FIR lodged at the local Sikandra Rau police station on Tuesday after the stampede at Phulrai village.

Those arrested have been identified by the police as Ram Ladaite (50), Upendra ingh Yadav (62), Megh Singh (61), Mukesh Kumar (38), and women Manju Yadav (30) and Manju Devi (40).

Ram Ladaite is a native of Mainpuri district while Upendra Singh Yadav is from Firozabad, and the rest are local residents of Hathras.

All six were arrested on Thursday by the officials of Hathras Kotwali and Sikandra Rau police stations, the police said.

IG Mathur said, "When information regarding the arrestees was obtained through detailed enquiry, these people told during inquiry that they are members of the organising committee and work as 'sevadars'."

"The organisers and members gathered crowd and collected donations in the 'satsang' committee for cooperation," the officer added.

The FIR was lodged on July 2 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) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence).

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will visit Hathras, senior party leader K C Venugopal said in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav claimed that there could not be a conspiracy behind the Hathras stampede and alleged that it could definitely be a conspiracy that the government wanted to run away from its responsibility on this matter.

Yadav was reacting to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath's remarks that he suspected a "possible conspiracy" behind the Hathras incident.