Here’s how Bhole Baba’s ‘satsang’ turned into a deadly Hathras stampede: ‘People rushed towards…’

Hathras Stampede: Sikandra Rao, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), wrote to Hathras DM on Wednesday, explaining the reason for the massive death toll, which has climbed to 121 and left up to 28 people injured in the Hathras stampede case. He stated that the security guards pushed away some people who were trying to reach close to Bhole Baba, which led to a series of events that caused panic among the crowd.

Sikandra Rao, SDM, stated, “Narayan Hari Saarkar reached the venue at 12.30, and the event went on for an hour. When the Baba left the venue, people started rushing towards him to seek his blessings. A large number of people were already standing on the divider at the GT road and started running towards Baba.”

He further wrote, “To prevent the crowd from reaching Baba, his private security and 'Sevadar' pushed some people, and they fell down. The crowd went out of control and panicked. To get relief from this, people rushed towards the open field nearby, where multiple people slipped on a slope, and the people started running over them.”

Etah's Additional Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ram Mohan Tiwari, informed news agency PTI that ‘asphyxia due to compression’ was the leading cause of death among the victims of the Hathras stampede. The stampede victims majorly women were brought to the district hospital in neighbouring Etah on Tuesday. He further noted that the majority of the people were in the 40-50 age group.

The Uttar Pradesh Police filed an FIR on Wednesday that accused the organisers of hiding evidence and flouting conditions. The FIR alleged that permission for a gathering of 80,000 people was granted, but the event saw over three times the mass turnout, equivalent to 2.5 lakh people, much above the permit.

“As per the information that the police have 121 people have died in the incident. 19 bodies are yet to be identified," ANI quoted UP Minister and BJP MLA Asim Arun as saying. He alleged the event managers of mismanagement and pointed out that the exit path was narrow. He pointed out that UP CM Yogi has ordered a probe into the matter under the presidentship of ADG, Agra Zone.