Sadly, a minimum of 121 people died in the stampede that occurred in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday during a religious event. The Uttar Pradesh police have now apprehended six people, two of them female and four males, who were working as ‘Sevadars’ at the event.
Speaking to TOI, Inspector General (Aligarh Range) Shalabh Mathur said the people arrested had run away when the stampede occurred. The police have also declared ₹1 lakh reward from the main accused in the case, which has been named Prakash Madhukar.
Mathur revealed that a non-bailable warrant of arrest would be issued shortly against Madhukar, and necessary dynamic action would be taken to know whether the episode was a planned conspiracy.
The gruesome tragedy occurred when people ‘congregated’ at a specially set-up tent in Rati Bhanpur village, Sikandra Rau area, to listen to their religious ‘Satsang’ preacher Bhole Baba.
The police pointed out that characteristics of the population that can be reached, the degree of overcrowding, the availability of exits, and weather conditions can cause many victims.
On Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh police filed a First Information Report in the court against the event organizers, stating that they tried to tamper with evidence and went against the guidelines that allowed 80,000 people to attend the event; the actual crowd numbered over 2.
In the census taken by the British in the pre-independence period, there were 5 lakh people present. Nevertheless, in this FIR, Bhole Baba has not been mentioned at all, as permission for the event was not sought in his name.
