116 killed in stampede in UP, most victims women

Lucknow, NT Bureau: As many as 116 people were killed on Tuesday in a stampede at a religious gathering in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district.

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.

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

“On a preliminary reading, it appears that more people attended the event than the number for which permission was sought,” he said. Many of those killed were women and children. At least 15,000 persons were present at the satsang, according to a media report 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”.

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.

Outside hospital, bodies lay on the floor, loud wails pierce the air

Bodies lay scattered at a medical centre in Hathras district as people milled around them, wiping away tears and consoling one another.

The heartbreaking scenes unfolded outside the district's Sikandara Rao Trauma Centre, where victims, dead or unconscious, of the stampede that occurred at a 'satsang' in Phulrai village, were brought in ambulances, trucks and cars.

A woman sat crying among five or six bodies in a truck, urging people to help her get the body of her daughter out of the vehicle. A video clip showed a man and a woman lying lifeless in a different vehicle.

Many of the injured were seen lying near the entrance of the local government hospital surrounded by anxious relatives. Locals blamed the administration's negligence for the tragedy.

Who is ‘Bhole Baba’?

The deadly stampede in Hathras that claimed about 116 lives occurred at a congregation of Baba Narayan Hari alias Saakar Vishwa Hari 'Bhole Baba', a former policeman who turned into a religious preacher two decades ago and gained a following, especially in western Uttar Pradesh.

The real name of Bhole Baba is Surajpal. He is a native of Bahadur Nagar in Kasganj district, a retired IPS officer said. Circle Officer (CO) of Patiyali Vijay Kumar Rana told PTI that Surjpal left his job as a policeman in the late 1990s and turned to spirituality

. He started conducting 'satsang' (religious sermons). One of Surajpal's three brothers died and he set up a Trust and appointed a caretaker for his property in Bahadurgarh where his ashram is located, the CO said. He has no children and takes his wife along with him to 'satsang'.