Death toll in Hathras stampede rises to 116; several injured at the religious gathering
Hathras (UP), Jul 2: A stampede at a religious congregation here killed 116 people on Tuesday as devotees suffocated to their deaths and bodies piled atop each other in the worst such tragedy in recent years.
The stampede took place as people headed home after a ‘satsang’ in the district’s Phulrai village, conducted by a preacher known as Bhole Baba.
Twenty-seven bodies were brought to a hospital in neighbouring Etah district. Senior Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar Singh said 23 of them were women. And 89 lay dead in Hathras itself.
Aligarh Range Inspector General of Police Shalabh Mathur put the death toll at 116.
Victims, dead or unconscious, were brought to the Sikandara Rao Trauma Centre in trucks and ‘tempos’. The bodies lay scattered outside the health centre as people milled around them.
One video clip showed a woman crying, sitting amid five or six bodies in a truck. Another showed a man and a woman lifeless in another vehicle.
Clips before the stampede showed people in a large ‘shamiana’ listening to Bhole Baba. The baba sat before them on a throne-like chair.
District Magistrate Ashish Kumar said the satsang was a private function for which the sub-divisional magistrate had granted permission. The local administration provided security outside the venue while the arrangements inside were made by organisers, he added.
Eyewitness Shakuntala Devi told PTI Videos that the stampede took place while people were leaving the venue after the ‘satsang’, which was a day-long affair. People fell atop each other, she said, and then the bodies were pulled out.
According to Sikandra Rao sub divisional magistrate Ravendra Kumar, the stampede took place when devotees tried to get a glimpse of Bhole Baba as the event ended. They also wanted to collect some soil from around the baba’s feet, he told PTI.
Satsang participant Sonu Kumar blamed the slippery ground for the stampede.
“When Guru ji left the place after almost one and half hours, all of a sudden devotees ran behind him to touch his feet,” he said. When they turned back, some slipped.
Sikandra Rao police station SHO Ashish Kumar blamed “overcrowding” at the ‘satsang’.
Another eyewitness, who left the place before the ‘satsang’ ended said the arrangements were not adequate, given the number of devotees.
Agra’s additional director general of police and Aligarh divisional commissioner are part of a team that would probe in the incident, the state government said. The team has been asked to give its report in 24 hours.
Amid his reply to a two-day debate in Parliament on the motion of thanks on the President's address to both Houses of Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the deaths.
"In the midst of discussions, I have also been given sad news. It has come to my attention that there have been many tragic deaths in the stampede in Hathras, UP," he said in the Lok Sabha.
The prime minister said senior officials of the central government are in constant contact with the Uttar Pradesh administration to coordinate aid efforts.
On social media, President Droupadi Murmu said the news was heart-rending. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge expressed sadness.
An FIR will be registered against the organisers of the event, a state government statement said.
The Prime Minister’s Office announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund for the next of kin of each person killed in the stampede. The injured would be given Rs 50,000.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath made a similar announcement.
He said state ministers Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary and Sandeep Singh were headed for Hathras. The chief secretary and the state police chief too were directed to reach the spot.
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Stampede during a religious gathering of Bhole Baba Satsang in #UttarPradesh's #Hathras, over 27 people (Most Women) reported dead, over 100 devotees fainted, were taken away in buses and vans. pic.twitter.com/1P70WG1612
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Kejriwal resorting to 'vendetta politics', says BJP after MP Sandeep Pathak booked
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Saturday accused Aam Aadmi Party's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal of vendetta politics after Punjab Police booked Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak, who recently defected to the BJP.
In an X post, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed that Kejriwal is misusing the Punjab Police to settle political scores, and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has become a party to it.
"Two FIRs have been filed against Sandeep Pathak, who until recently was in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a Rajya Sabha MP and general secretary (organisation). What is baffling is the shameless, brazen vendetta politics being pursued by Arvind Kejriwal, with Bhagwant Mann complicit in it," Poonawalla said.
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"It is clear this has been done out of vendetta politics by Kejriwal, who is extremely vengeful and vindictive, and misuses the Punjab Police to pursue such political vendetta," he alleged.
Questioning the timing of the FIRs, Poonawalla said, "If these cases existed from the beginning, why were FIRs not filed earlier? If he was corrupt, why was he kept in the party for so long, especially when he was the general secretary (organisation)? Has any new material surfaced in the last few days, or has the alleged corruption occurred only now?"
He alleged that Kejriwal has an "old habit" of targeting political opponents and dissenters.
"We have seen how he has used the police against rivals, including Congress leaders. This is his old habit," Poonawalla said, referring to the withdrawal of Rajya Sabha MP Harbhajan Singh's security.
Poonawalla claimed that several leaders who had left AAP over the years, including Yogendra Yadav, Mayank Gandhi, Ashish Khetan, Ashutosh and Alka Lamba, were "hounded".
He accused the party of failing to introspect.
"Instead of introspecting on how they have changed -- from Anna to Lalu, from Lokpal to corruption -- they are indulging in vendetta politics, trying to victimise people using the strong arm of the law. This reflects an Emergency-like mindset and a dictatorial, Hitlerian mindset," he said.
According to sources, two FIRs have been lodged against Pathak under non-bailable sections.
No further details about the FIRs have been disclosed yet.
On April 24, the AAP suffered a jolt when seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs quit, alleging that Arvind Kejriwal's party has strayed from its principles, values and core morals.
Of the seven MPs -- who were Pathak, Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikramjit Sahney and Swati Maliwal -- six were from Punjab.
Later, Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan officially accepted their merger with the BJP, reducing AAP's strength in the Upper House to three.
