Uttar Pradesh: 116 killed in stampede at religious gathering in Hathras

A total of 116 persons were killed on Tuesday in a stampede at a religious gathering in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district, ANI reported.

The stampede occurred during a satsang, or a religious gathering, held by a religious preacher named Narayan Saakar Hari, popularly known as Bhole Baba, at the Fulrai village in the Sikandrarau tehsil of Hathras district.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath said that as per information that he received, the stampede occurred when the preacher was getting down from the stage.

“Suddenly, a crowd of devotees started going towards him to touch him,” he said, according to ANI. “The sevadaars [volunteers] stopped them, after which this accident took place.”

Temporary permission had been granted for the event, Inspector General of Police Shalabh Mathur said, The Indian Express reported.

The injured persons and the bodies of the victims were taken to three government medical colleges in Etah, Aligarh and Hathras districts.

The toll in the incident so far is 116, Aligarh Inspector General Shalabh Mathur confirmed on Tuesday evening. He added that a first information report was in the process of being registered against the organisers who took permission for the event.

“On a preliminary reading, it appears that more people attended the event than the number for which permission was sought,” he said, according to ANI. The officer added that a high-level inquiry had been ordered to look into the matter.

Many of those killed were women and children.

At least 15,000 persons were present at the satsang, The Indian Express reported, quoting an unidentified police official. “We do not know the exact cause of the stampede but a majority of deaths were a result of suffocation,” the official said.

Chief Minister Adityanath said that instructions were given to “the concerned officials to conduct relief and rescue operations on war footing and to provide proper treatment to the injured”. State ministers Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary and Sandeep Singh have left for the site of the stampede, and the chief secretary and director general of police have also been directed to go to the district, Adityanath added.

The chief minister also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to the injured.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the dead. The injured will be given Rs 50,000 each.

Rekha, a 55-year-old resident of the Garhi Tamana village in Hathras district, said that she had attended the event on Tuesday. It began around 12 pm and ended at 2 pm, she said.

“When I left the venue around 2 pm, nothing had happened,” Rekha said. “But while waiting for my bus, I heard that some women had fainted and one child had died due to some mishap. On my way back, I saw several ambulances going towards the venue.”

The congregations are held on the first Tuesday of every month, Rekha added.

Preacher was ex-police officer, claimed to have worked with IB

Hari, the religious preacher, was a former police officer and was last posted in Madhya Pradesh before he began conducting satsangs in 2002, according to local reports. He has since been holding such gatherings in various parts of Aligarh, Agra, Khurja, Bulandshahr and Hathras.

Hari reportedly claims at his congregations that he worked for the Intelligence Bureau and took voluntary retirement.

Jai Prakash, another devotee from Hathras, told Scroll that the preacher belonged to the state’s Kasganj district and ran the Narayan Saakar Hari Charitable Trust.