Hathras Stampede Preacher Bhole Baba's Popularity, Security Dips, Less Than 100 Turn Up For Satsang

Mainpuri: The recent satsang of self-styled Godman Surajpal alias Narayan Sakar Hari alias Bhole Baba, witnessed an unusually low turnout of followers. The satsang that was held in the Baba's ashram at Mainpuri on Tuesday saw a minimal number that was in stark contrast to the infamous satsang in Hathras that led to a tragic stampede killing 121 majorly women and children on July 2.

The followers in the Hathras Stampede incident exceeded the permitted number of 80,000, with over 250,000 devotees in attendance.

Hathras Stampede Behind Low Turnout?

The stampede is likely to have cast a lingering impact that resulted in a poor turnout. It was reported that cops - who were also in a skeletal capacity - shooed away several followers resulting in less than 100 attendees throughout the day for the satsang.

Lawyer Claims Baba Wasn't In Any Hotel Or Abroad

AP Singh, lawyer of Bhole Baba Bhole Baba said the latter had reached his ashram at Bahadur Nagar village in Kasganj on Tuesday, his lawyer said on Wednesday. "He has reached his ashram and will stay here. He came here from his other ashram. He was never at anyone's place or any hotel or another country." Singh said that the village is Baba's 'janmasthali' (birthplace) and he last came here for a day in 2023.

UP Govt Forms SIT, Judicial Commission

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.

Theory of Poisonous Substance Being Sprayed

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.

(with PTI inputs)