Hathras godman reacts to stampede during his satsang
Narayan Sakar Hari, who is also known as Bhole Baba, attributed the deadly stampede during his ‘satsang‘ (religious gathering) on July 2 in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, which claimed 121 lives and injured many others, to “anti-social elements.”
In a statement, Hari expressed his condolences over the incident and claimed that the chaos erupted a long time after he had already left the venue.
The statement read, “I/ we express our deep condolence to the families of the deceased and pray to prabhu/ parmatma (God) for the speedy recovery of the injured.”
He further said that he had authorized Supreme Court lawyer A P Singh to take “further legal action in regard to stampede created by some anti-social elements after Samagam“.
A sub-divisional magistrate (SDM)-led preliminary probe has stated that the stampede was caused after devotees were pushed by the godman’s security and a “slippery slope”.
“A crowd of more than 2 lakh people was present in the satsang pandal. Shri Narayan Sakar Hari (Bhole Baba) reached the satsang pandal at about 12.30 p.m. and the program went on for 1 hour,” the preliminary report said.
“After this, at about 1.40 p.m., Shri Narayan Sakar Hari (Bhole Baba) came out of the pandal to go towards Etah on National Highway-91,” the report said, adding that when the godman was leaving the venue, his followers started running towards him for a ‘darshan’ and collect soil from around his feet.
The stampede killed 121 people, most of them women, as devotees suffocated to death and bodies piled atop each other.
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