The police have submitted a 3,200-page charge sheet in connection with the deadly stampede during the Narayan Sakar Hari “Bhole Baba” congregation on July 2, which resulted in 121 fatalities.
The charge sheet names 11 individuals as accused, including those responsible for obtaining the event’s permit. The court has scheduled October 4 for providing copies of the charge sheet to the accused, according to defense lawyer A.P. Singh.
10 of the accused, including the main organizer and fundraiser, Dev Prakash Madhukar, appeared in court after being transported from Aligarh District Jail to Hathras District Court. One accused, Manju Yadav, is currently out on bail granted by the Allahabad High Court.
The Special Investigation Team has filed the charge sheet, while a separate judicial inquiry into the incident is ongoing. The stampede, which occurred after a satsang led by Surajpal alias Bhole Baba, claimed the lives of mostly women in Fulrai village, Sikandra Rao area of Hathras.
Government agencies, including the police, have attributed the chaos to mismanagement by the event organizers, noting that the crowd swelled to over 250,000, exceeding the permitted limit of 80,000.
However, the lawyer for the ‘godman’ claimed that a “poisonous substance” sprayed by unidentified individuals triggered the stampede.
An FIR was lodged on July 2 under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder and wrongful restraint.
Notably, Surajpal alias Narayan Sakar Hari was not named as an accused in the charge sheet.
Following the tragedy, the Uttar Pradesh government formed a three-member judicial commission, led by a retired high court judge, to investigate the incident and explore the possibility of a conspiracy behind the stampede.
