New Delhi:

The district official – a sub divisional magistrate – who permitted ‘godman’ Bhole Baba’s ‘prayer meet’ in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, at which a stampede killed 121 people – never inspected the venue, a team investigating the tragedy said in a report submitted to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The SIT report also said the event organisers and local administration, including the police, were negligent and held them responsible, stating they “failed to make adequate arrangements” for so large a crowd. Neither local officials nor the cops took the event “seriously”, the report said.

That the organisers – who have been held “primarily responsible” involved, or hired, individuals without police verification has been held up as an example of that negligence.

And, in a lapse of protocol, local police did not inform, as soon as they should have, their seniors of the stampede and the deaths, the report said. The probe team also echoed the Chief Minister in suggesting a “conspiracy” behind the tragedy, and has recommended a more detailed investigation.

The report is based on statements from 125 people – from eyewitnesses and survivors to police and district officials. In addition, news reports and photographs and video footage were also examined.

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.)

Announcing their first arrests in the stampede at the Hathras religious event which killed 121 people, the Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday said they have taken six people into custody, but there was one notable omission – Bhole Baba aka Narayan Saakar Hari, the self-styled godman in whose honour the ‘satsang’ was organised.  

Pressed on the issue at a press conference, Inspector General of Police (Aligarh Range) Shalabh Mathur said the investigation has just begun and more arrests will be made based on the facts that emerge. He also clarified that the ‘godman’, whose original name is Suraj Pal, has not been questioned yet. 

Not ruling out taking Pal into custody, the officer said, “We will make arrests based on what the investigation reveals… We will question the baba if necessary, it is too early to say or comment whether he has a role. He has not been named in the FIR, which has held the organisers responsible. The permission was taken by the organising committee and members of the panel have been arrested.”

The permission was taken in the name of one Ved Prakash Madhukar, the officer said, adding that teams have been formed to trace him and a reward of Rs 1 lakh has been announced for information leading to his arrest. “If the role of other people is revealed during Madhukar’s questioning, we will take action accordingly,” Mr Mathur said.

Asked about the previous cases against the ‘godman’, who has allegedly also been accused of sexual assault, the officer said that, from what they know so far, Pal was a head constable with the UP police and had taken VRS (voluntary retirement from service) in 2000, when he was posted in Agra. 

“Soon after, an FIR was registered against him in Agra’s Shahganj police station and he was later acquitted. We are finding out if he has any more cases against him and we are taking the help of police in various states for this. 

Tuesday’s stampede, which led to the deaths of 121 people, including at least seven children, occurred at a ‘satsang’ in Phulrai village under Sikandra Rao police station limits in Hathras. Police said permission had been given for 80,000 people but 2.5 lakh had gathered for the event. 

When Pal was leaving in his car, a crowd rushed to collect the dust left in its wake, thinking of it as a blessing.

In a bid to control the crowd, the volunteers and others in charge of security from Pal’s organisation began pushing people back. Several devotees fell around an embankment and were crushed by the crowd. Amid the chaos, other attendees began running, triggering a stampede. 

Issuing a brief statement on Wednesday after maintaining silence since the stampede, Pal expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and said he will take legal action against “anti-social elements” that were allegedly behind the tragedy.