Hathras:

Chotelal and his wife Manju Devi had gone to Hathras on Tuesday to attend ‘Bhole Baba’s’ satsang, just like they had been doing for the last 4-5 years. They also took their 6-year-old son hoping that he would learn something from the preachings. But the day ended on a tragic note, one that Chotelal had not imagined even in his scariest dreams – his wife and son died in a stampede at the end of the ‘Satsang’ that also claimed the lives of 119 other people.

The incident unfolded during a gathering of followers of self-styled godman Narayan Sakar Hari, also known as ‘Bhole Baba’. As devotees gathered to catch a glimpse of the godman leaving in his car, pandemonium erupted triggering a stampede. Witnesses recounted the horror as people scrambled to avoid the crush, with many falling victim to the tumultuous surge.

Chotelal spoke through tears of his devastating loss. “I was near the main gate when the stampede started. My wife fell into a pit filled with water as she tried to escape. Both my wife and son did not survive,” he lamented, his voice choked with grief.

For families like Chotelal’s, the aftermath has been a harrowing ordeal. Identifying loved ones among the deceased in various mortuaries across Hathras has become a painful ritual. The injured, scattered across multiple hospitals, have left relatives desperately searching for information and solace.

After #Hathras Tragedy, Grieving Families Left With Questions And Anger#GroundReport by @TanushkaDuttapic.twitter.com/xnt4SQxg38

— NDTV (@ndtv) July 5, 2024

The daughter-in-law of another victim, Premvati, described the chaos and trauma her family endured. “My mother-in-law was our pillar of strength,” she said, her voice trembling with emotion. “We have been associated with Bhole Baba for nearly a decade, attending his satsangs regularly. Now she is gone, and we are left questioning why this happened.”

Both families also have one more question, “If Bhole Baba can perform miracles, why did this happen and why hasn’t he brought his followers back to life.”

Survivors recount scenes of sheer terror and helplessness. One survivor, who narrowly escaped the stampede, recalled being trapped under a pile of people. “There was no space to move. I lost consciousness and woke up in the hospital,” she recounted, her face still bearing the marks of the ordeal. “We were calling out for help, but it was chaos all around.”

“When I Went To The Hospital…”: Man Who Lost Mother In #Hathras Tragedy Breaks Down pic.twitter.com/Yau44cYSnx

— NDTV (@ndtv) July 5, 2024

Amidst the tragedy, the political blame game has begun, overshadowing the voices of grief-stricken families who are struggling to come to terms with their losses. Calls for accountability and measures to prevent such disasters in the future are echoing through the grief-stricken community.

Hathras:

Satyendra Yadav was walking towards his vehicle after the ‘satsang’ when his wife called — their three-year-old son Chhota had died in the stampede that had broken out moments earlier.

The 29-year-old driver from Delhi had reached here with his family, including his mother and two sisters-in-law. Just before the programme ended, Yadav, along with his mother and elder son, Mayank (4), started walking towards his vehicle, a three-wheeler loader.

“As we reached my vehicle, I got a call from my wife…she said, ‘Pilua thaane aa jaao, Chhota khatam ho gayaa hai’ (Come to the Pilua police station, Chhota is no more),” Yadav told PTI.

The three-year-old son of Yadav, Rovin, was affectionately called as Chhota by his family. He was among the 121 people, who died in the stampede here on Tuesday.

Like Rovin, there are more families who lost their children in the tragic incident.

For the brother-sister duo Kaavya (3) and Ayush (9), the bus journey from Jaipur, Rajasthan, on Monday evening to the event venue here proved to be their last.

Both the grieving families said they never imagined that such an incident would take place at a religious gathering.

Yadav said he, along with his wife, their two sons and his wife’s two sisters, had left Delhi on Monday night at around 11 pm and reached here by 5.30 am (on Tuesday). His mother had reached the event from their village in Etah, Uttar Pradesh, separately. “It is indeed very devastating for me and my family,” Yadav, who performed the last rites of his son in his village on Tuesday night, said.

Recalling some of the scenes from the stampede, he said, “I do not remember anything about the commotion that took place. Later on, I saw some people carrying a woman somewhere. I thought that she might have fainted (due to the weather), and hence she would be given medical treatment. I had not seriously thought about the incident.” “Then, I got a call from my wife. My voice was reaching her, but I could not hear what she was saying. So, I told her to come to the place where I had parked my vehicle,” he said.

Sometime later, when he got another call from her, she, along with her sisters, was at the Pilua police station (in Etah) and informed him about Rovin’s death, Yadav said, adding that he then informed his brother, who subsequently informed their father.

Later, a large number of people from Yadav’s village, including the village pradhan, reached the spot, he said.

Meanwhile, Ramlakhan, who was accompanying his brother-in-law and the father of the siblings — Kaavya and Ayush — Anad, to Shahjahanpur in a bus, said that he has yet not given the tragic news to him, fearing it would shock him.

“I came to know about the tragic incident around 5 pm. They (Kaavya and Ayush) had gone to the ‘satsang’ along with my wife, who is their paternal aunt. We belong to Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, but I work in Jaipur. The children, along with other family members, had left Jaipur on Monday evening and they had reached the programme venue by 6 am,” Ramlakhan said.

“I was very attached to the children and on Sunday, I had spoken to them. This is a very tragic incident and a sad moment for our family. We had never expected that such an incident would take place. The children and family members had attended ‘satsang’ programmes on earlier occasions as well,” he said, adding that he came to know that there was overcrowding at the venue.

“The father of Ayush and Kaavya is with me (in the bus). I have not told him about the tragic news so that he does not get a shock,” Ramlakhan said.

He said that he spoke to his wife Rama between 5 pm and 6 pm on Tuesday, and it was the police personnel who facilitated the conversation as she does not have a mobile phone.

A stampede at a religious congregation on Tuesday in the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh killed 121 people, most of them women, as devotees suffocated to death and bodies piled atop each other.

The stampede took place as the ‘satsang’ here ended. Some accounts said people slipped in the slush as they ran after the preacher’s car, triggering the stampede.

The victims were part of the crowd which had gathered near Phulrai village in the Sikandrarau area for the ‘satsang’ by religious preacher Baba Narayan Hari, also known as Saakar Vishwa Hari Bhole Baba.

Around 2.5 lakh devotees had gathered in the Hathras district’s Phulrai village for the ‘satsang’, police said.

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

New Delhi:

Bhole Baba aka Narayan Saakar Hari is likely to be arrested soon after more than 100 people died in a stampede at his ‘satsang’ (religious congregation) in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras on Tuesday. The self-styled godman, whose original name is Suraj Pal, is believed to be at his ‘ashram’ in Mainpuri, about 100 km from the Phulrai village, where he held the event attended by thousands of devotees.

Many senior police officials have reached the Hathras stampede site, while others are at his ashram, the Ram Kutir Charitable Trust. Besides police personnel, an NDTV team at the ashram also saw his devotees gathering in large numbers.

In Hathras, a forensic unit and a dog squad are at the stampede site. Teams of the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) are also present.

At least 121 people, including over 100 women and seven children, were killed in the Hathras stampede. The Uttar Pradesh government said most of the people who died in the stampede have been identified.

A compensation of Rs 2 lakh each has been announced for the families of the dead and Rs 50,000 for the injured.

President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have expressed their condolences to the families of the victims.

How Hathras Stampede Happened

Officials said the place where the Hathras stampede happened was too small to accommodate the crowd that had gathered there on Tuesday afternoon. A woman who attended the ‘satsang’ said the stampede broke out as the crowd began to leave.

After the ‘satsang’, devotees rushed to touch the feet of the self-styled guru, causing a big crowd build-up in a small area, officials said.

Devotees had come to the ‘satsang’ from various districts of Uttar Pradesh as well as neighboring states.

A high-level committee has been formed to investigate the incident.

The panel will be headed by the Additional Director General of Police, Agra, and the Aligarh Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said.

Case Against Hathras Satsang Organisers

A case has been filed against the ‘satsang organisers’ in Hathras, officials said.

According to the FIR, permission was granted for 80,000 people but more than 2.5 lakh devotees attended the event.

“Due to the uncontrollable crowd leaving the venue, devotees sitting on the ground were crushed. On the other side of the road, the crowd running in the water and mud-filled fields was forcibly stopped by the organizing committee with sticks, due to which the pressure of the crowd kept increasing and women, children, and men kept getting crushed,” the FIR said.

“The police and administrative officials present on the spot made every possible effort and sent the injured people to the hospital with the available resources. But no cooperation was given by the organizers,” the FIR added.

They have been charged under sections 105, 110, 126 (2), 223, and 238 of the new criminal code Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Godman Behind Hathras ‘Satsang’

Self-styled guru Narayan Saakar Hari has often claimed that he has worked with the Intelligence Bureau. He also told his devotees that he was inclined towards spirituality even when he was working and had resigned in the 1990s to pursue the spiritual path.

Born in Bahadur Nagari village in Uttar Pradesh’s Etah district to a farmer, Nanne Lal, and Katori Devi, he completed his initial studies in the village.

He was reportedly a head constable with the Local Intelligence Unit of the UP police. He left his police job in 1999 and then changed his name to Narayan Saakar Hari.

He claims he began working for the Intelligence Bureau after college and turned towards spirituality during his time there.

Hathras Stampede Helpline Numbers

The Uttar Pradesh government has launched two helpline numbers — 05722227041 and 05722227042 — after the Hathras stampede incident.

New Delhi:

Most of the 116 people who died in a stampede during a ‘satsang’ organised in Sikandra Rao area of the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday have been identified, the Uttar Pradesh government said.

Devotees had come to the ‘satsang’ from various districts of Uttar Pradesh as well as neighbouring states.

Aligarh Zone Inspector General of Police (IG) Shalabh Mathur told PTI, “116 people have died in the stampede incident in Hathras.” Etah and Hathras are adjacent districts and people from Etah had also come to attend the ‘satsang’.

Efforts are being made to identify the remaining bodies, officials said.

Earlier, Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh, while giving details of the casualties to journalists, said that out of the 116 victims, seven are children, one man and the rest are women.

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

New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi – in the middle of a fierce attack on the Congress and the opposition in Parliament this evening – broke off to inform the House of a tragedy in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras.

Dozens, including women and children, were killed in a stampede at a prayer meet.

Mr Modi, who was fighting a vociferous battle with the opposition while speaking on the Motion of Thanks to President Droupadi Murmu’s joint address to Parliament last week, paused and told his fellow MPs of the tragedy. As he did so, the Lok Sabha, which seconds earlier had reverberated with the shrieks and screams and chants of opposition MPs targeting the PM fell completely silent.

“In the midst of these discussions I have also been given sad news. It has come to my attention that there have been many tragic deaths in the stampede in Hathras…” the Prime Minister said.

READ | 87, Including Children, Killed In Stampede At Religious Event In UP

“I express my condolences to those who lost their lives (and) hope for the speedy recovery of the injured,” he added, as murmurs broke from MPs preparing to add the Hathras stampede to their arsenal of weapons against Mr Modi and his ruling BJP, which is also in power in Uttar Pradesh.

#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi says, “There are reports of many people dying in the stampede in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. I express my condolences to those who lost their lives in this accident. I wish for the speedy recovery of all the injured. The administration is engaged… pic.twitter.com/UasFmME0br

— ANI (@ANI) July 2, 2024

Mr Modi also said senior central government officers had been instructed to contact their state counterparts to coordinate rescue and aid efforts. “Through this forum, I assure everyone that all possible assistance will be provided to the victims,” he said. The PM’s office has announced Rs 2 lakh compensation to each of the families of those killed and Rs 50,000 to each of those injured.

The Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji has announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh from PMNRF for the next of kin of each deceased in the mishap in Hathras. The injured would be given Rs. 50,000.

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) July 2, 2024

The Hathras Lok Sabha MP – the BJP’s Anoop Pradhan – said he had spoken to district officers but declined to comment on the number of dead. The injured, he said, were being treated at hospitals.

Before and after the Prime Minister’s mention of the Hathras stampede, the opposition threw a wall of noise – protests, slogans, and screams – at Mr Modi as he was speaking.

READ | PM’s Speech Amid Opposition Chants, Speaker Rebukes Rahul

Such was the relentless sloganeering that Speaker Om Birla appeared to lose his temper on more than one occasion as he tried, without any success, to control the shrieking opposition.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.