Hathras stampede: Godman Bhole Baba is at his Kasganj ashram, says his lawyer

Lucknow, Jul 17 (PTI) Self-styled godman Surajpal alias Narayan Sakar Hari alias Bhole Baba, who held a satsang in Hathras recently where 121 devotees were killed after a stampede, has reached his ashram at Bahadur Nagar village in Kasganj, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

"He has reached his ashram and will stay here. He came here from his another ashram. He was never at anyone's place or any hotel or another country," Bhole Baba's lawyer A P Singh told reporters in Kasganj.

Singh said that the village is Baba's 'janmasthali' (birthplace) and he last came here for a day in 2023.

The stampede at the 'satsang' of Bhole Baba claimed 121 lives in Sikandararu area of Hathras on July 2.

The Uttar Pradesh government has constituted an SIT and a judicial commission to probe into the incident.

The godman was not mentioned as accused in the FIR lodged at Sikandrarau police station.

The SIT in its report submitted to the state government on July 9 did not rule out a "big conspiracy" behind the stampede. The report also flagged lapses on the part of the local administration that led to the stampede.

The report held the organisers responsible for the incident, claiming they did not make arrangements to manage the crowd and also fixed the responsibility of administration, according to official sources.

The lawyer of Bhole Baba had on July 6 claimed "some poisonous substance" sprayed by "some unidentified men" triggered the stampede.

A separate judicial commission headed by retired Allahabad High Court judge Brijesh Kumar Shrivastava, and retired IPS officer Hemant Rao as its member, is also probing the Hathras stampede case.

Earlier, government agencies, including police, had blamed the organisers for the mismanagement at the event, noting that the size of the crowd exceeded to over 2.50 lakh from the permitted 80,000.

So far, nine people, including key accused Devprakash Madhukar, have been arrested in connection with the stampede.

Madhukar was the main organiser and fundraiser of the July 2 'satsang' of Bhole Baba at Phulrai village in Hathras. PTI