Two days after the stampede at a 'satsang' in Hathras that killed 121 people including children and injured many, Uttar Pradesh Police on Thursday arrested six organisers of the event. The arrested include two women. The 'satsang' was led by self-styled preacher Narayan Sakar Hari alias 'Bhole Baba', who is still absconding and is not named in the FIR.
Aligarh range IG Shalabh Mathur confirmed that all the six people arrested including four men and two women are members of the organising committee who worked as 'Sevadars'(volunteers).
Speaking to media, Mathur pointed out that the arrested persons were responsible for crowd management during the event.
“They used to manage the crowd independently and would not allow the administration to tackle the situation,” said IG Mathur.
Meanwhile, 'Mukhya Sevadar' Dev Prakash Madhukar, who has been named in the FIR as the main accused of the tragedy is still at large. The police has announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to the arrest of Madhukar, who is an engineer in UP Panchayati Raj department.
His residence in Hathras is reportedly locked with no whereabouts known of even the family.
The IG said that the police are actively seeking a non-bailable warrant (NBW) from the court for Madhukar’s arrest. Those arrested by the police so far include Ram Ladaite Yadav of Mainpuri, Upendra Yadav of Shikohabad, Made Singh of Hathras, Manju Yadav, Manju Devi and Mukesh Kumar.
Mathur further said that "if necessary" the authorities may also question Narayan Sakar Hari (Bhole Baba).
“The police are gathering information on Narayan Sakaar Hari's background and teams have been dispatched to cities where he has potential criminal records,” said the IG.
Meanwhile, Hari issued an undersigned statement on Wednesday night, while on the run, in which he claimed that the stampede was caused by "anti-social elements."
The UP police have not been able to round up Hari even after 48 hours of the incident. Special Operation Groups (SOGs) of UP police have reportedly raided around eight hideouts of Narayan Sakaar Hari in Mainpuri, Gwalior, Kanpur and Hathras but to no avail.
In the meantime, Narayan Sakaar Hari's advocate AP Singh visited the injured "bhakts" in an Aligarh hospital. Speaking to media after the visit, Singh claimed that Hari, who worked for the UP police department before turning into a self-styled god man, did not own any ashram. Singh further claimed that Hari sustained himself on the pension he received from the department.
“Whenever the probe team will call him, he will appear to respond to every query,” said the lawyer.
According to the FIR filed by the UP police, over 2.5 lakh people had gathered at the venue to attend the 'satsang' of 'Bhole Baba' even though the administration had permitted the assemblage of only 80,000 people.
It may be noted that Bhole Baba was arrested back in 2000. He was arrested in Agra for claiming of “magical powers” and allegedly taking the body of a 16-year-old girl forcibly from her family saying he would bring her back to life.