The Uttar Pradesh Police has registered a first information report against the organisers of a religious event in Hathras district where a stampede occurred on Tuesday, reported PTI.
A total of 121 persons died due to the stampede, the news agency quoted the Office of the Relief Commissioner as saying.
The stampede took place 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.
However, Hari has not been named in the FIR. He is absconding, according to reports.
The FIR names Devprakash Madhukar, who has been referred to as the “Mukhya Sevadar”, or chief servant. Along with him, other unidentified organisers of the gathering have also been booked under Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita sections pertaining to culpable homicide not amounting to murder (105), attempt to commit culpable homicide (110), disobedience to order duly promulgated by the public servant (223) and causing disappearance of evidence (238).
When asked if the preacher would be arrested, Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh had said on Tuesday night that “the ambit of the investigation is open”, reported PTI.
“Right now, everything is a matter of investigation,” said Singh. “We do not want to influence the investigation by drawing any immediate conclusion. Action will be taken based on the facts that come to light during the investigation.”
The FIR states that the organisers had sought permission for a gathering of nearly 80,000 persons in the programme, without revealing that lakhs of people had gathered for previous events held by Hari.
For Tuesday’s event, a crowd of about 2.5 lakh persons from several districts and nearby states had gathered, according to the FIR.
It also alleged that the organisers attempted to fabricate evidence by throwing away the belongings, clothes and shoes of the injured persons, reported The Indian Express.
After the stampede, the bodies of those who died and the injured persons were taken to three government medical colleges in Etah, Aligarh and Hathras districts.
Hari, the religious preacher, was a former police officer and was last posted in Madhya Pradesh before he began conducting religious events in 2002, according to local reports. He has since been holding such gatherings in parts of Aligarh, Agra, Khurja, Bulandshahr and Hathras.
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