‘Bhole Baba’ reacts to Hathras ‘satsang’ stampede: ‘Anyone who created the chaos…’

Surajpal alias Narayan Sakar Hari alias ‘Bhole Baba’, the self-styled godman, has claimed that he was depressed over the Hathras ‘satsang’ stampede incident and asked the affected families to have faith in the judiciary.

‘Bhole Baba’s statement to news agency ANI on Saturday comes hours after Dev Prakash Madhukar, the main accused in the July 2 Hathras stampede, which claimed 121 lives, surrendered before the police in New Delhi. He was later was taken into custody by the Uttar Pradesh Police.

“… I am deeply saddened after the incident of July 2. May God give us the strength to bear this pain. Please keep faith in the government and the administration. I have faith that anyone who created the chaos would not be spared… Through my lawyer AP Singh, I have requested the members of the committee to stand with the bereaved families and the injured and help them throughout their lives…,” Bhole Baba told ANI.

Hathras stampede main accused surrenders

Dev Prakash Madhukar, the ‘mukhya sevadar’ of the satsang where the stampede took place, is the only accused named in the FIR lodged at Sikandra Rao police station in Hathras in connection with the incident. In a video message, Madhukar’s lawyer AP Singh claimed that his client had surrendered in Delhi, where he was undergoing treatment.

“Today, we have surrendered Dev Prakash Madhukar, who has been called the main organiser in the FIR in the Hathras case, after calling the police, the SIT and the STF in Delhi since he was undergoing treatment here,” AP Singh said.

“We had promised we would not apply for anticipatory bail since we did no wrong. What is our crime? He is an engineer and a heart patient. Doctors said his condition is stable now and so we surrendered today to join the probe,” the lawyer said.

AP Singh said police may now record his statement or question him but they must take into consideration his health condition and ensure that “nothing wrong happens with him”.

₹1 lakh reward

The Uttar Pradesh Police had announced a reward of ₹1 lakh for information leading to Dev Prakash Madhukar’s arrest.

On July 3, the Supreme Court lawyer, had claimed that he also represents Bhole Baba, and that some “anti-social elements” were behind the tragedy.

Bhole Baba was ready to cooperate with the state administration and police and had sought an investigation into the entire matter, Singh had said.

Till Thursday, six people, including two women volunteers who were members of the organising committee of Bhole Baba’s ‘satsang’, had been arrested in the case.

An FIR was lodged in the matter on July 2 under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 223 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by the public servant) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence).