Agra:

Dev Prakash Madhukar, the main accused in the Hathras stampede, has been removed from his post of technical assistant at Sheetalpur block of Etah district in Uttar Pradesh where he was supervising MGNREGA work across 20 panchayats since 2010 on contract.

Block development officer (Sheetalpur) Dinesh Sharma said that the process for Madhukar’s removal and termination of his contract has been initiated after his name appeared as the main accused in the FIR and a reward of Rs 1 lakh was declared on him by the Hathras police.

Madhukar also faces an NBW for being on the run after the incident.

‘The in charge of Samagam (satsang) Dev Prakash Madhukar (Engineer), in whose name permission was sought for the satsang, is absconding after being named in FIR by the Hathras police. A reward of Rs 1 lakh has been declared on his arrest and NBW issued. Teams are searching for him,” Inspector General of Police, Aligarh range, Shalabh Mathur said at a press conference at the Hathras police lines on Thursday.

Madhukar was assigned the task of preparing bills and vouchers after inspection of development work undertaken under MGNREGA in Sheetalpur block. His wife is a panchayat assistant and both reside in Sikandra Rau town of Hathras.

He actively got residents of his native village associated with the self-styled godman Suraj Pal’s (also known as Bhole Baba) organisation. Madhukar had also contested the village pradhan’s election but lost.

Around 30 people from Madhukar’s village had gone to attend the satsang in Hathras.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)