UP: 116 Dead in a Stampede at a Satsang in #-Hathras
Around 116 people died after a stampede occurred at Sakar Vishwa Hari Bhole Baba’s Satsang in Hathras, UP. Who is this Bhole Baba and how did such a massive stampede occur?
In one of the worst tragedies in India this year, more than 116 people died in a stampede at a Satsang in Hathras, UP. The Satsang was held by Sakar Vishwa Hari ‘Bhole Baba’, who was formerly known as Saurabh Kumar. He is also known as “Narayan Sakar Hari Bhole Baba.” Interestingly, Kumar used to work in UP Police’s intelligence department. After 18 years of service, Kumar quit his job and took voluntary retirement in 1990. After retirement, Kumar had a 'vision' of God one day and since then decided to follow the spiritual path & became a spiritual preacher. Bhole Baba organizes Satsang programmes every Tuesday with his wife and delivers spiritual lessons in a white suit & tie. Hundreds of people attend his events. He is very famous in UP, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh and has a vast following among the lower middle class and the poor. Despite his popularity, Bhole Baba maintains a distance from the media. According to the reports, Bhole Baba organized a Satsang in Hathras last Tuesday i.e. 2nd July 2024. After the Satsang was over, Baba’s Satsang volunteers & organizers stopped people from leaving so that Baba and his group could leave first. It was already a hot day, and the packed venue further increased the heat & humidity. After Bhole Baba left, and people were given permission to leave, chaos broke out. People ran behind Baba’s running car to meet him. Many raced to collect the soil Baba walked on to worship it. As a result, people started falling over each causing a stampede at around 3:30 pm. People fell and got crushed to death under the hurrying crowd. Some even fainted because of heat strokes. The injured were rushed to the hospital for treatment with most of them being in critical condition. Out of 116 dead, 106 were women, 7 were children and 3 were men. Their bodies were brought to the Sikandara Rao Trauma Centre in trucks and laid outside the centre’s building. Families & friends moved around crying & confused trying to locate the bodies of their loved ones. Multiple videos & photos of this have gone viral on social media. One video shows a woman sitting in a truck surrounded by 5 - 6 dead bodies and crying inconsolably. One picture shows 2 women sitting & crying next to the body of a man whose face has been covered by a white cloth. A man named Vinod lost his mother, wife and 16-year-old daughter in the stampede. He said “I didn't even know that all three had gone to the Satsang because I was out for work. Someone told me that there was a stampede in the Satsang after which I reached the spot and found out that my 16-year-old daughter, mother and wife had died. I could not even find my mother's body. I am left with nothing... everything is gone." People from around the world are criticizing the incident and expressing their grief and symptoms to the victims’ families. UP CM Yogi Adityanath has expressed condolences to the victims’ families and announced a ?2 lakh compensation for the family of the deceased and ?50,000/- compensation for the injured. Adityanath has formed a special high-level committee to investigate the incident and ordered Agra’s Additional Director General of Police & Aligarh’s divisional commissioner to speed up relief measures and personally investigate the incident. President Droupadi Murmu & PM Modi also expressed their condolences. PM Modi also spoke to Adityanath to get updates on the incident & its investigation. The UP Police announced that the stampede occurred because of the overcrowding of the venue. They found that while Satsang’s organizers had permission for 80,000 attendees, more than 2.5 lakh people attended the event. The venue was too small to accommodate the 1.7 lakh extra people who were allowed to enter by the organizers. They have registered an FIR against Bhole Baba & his wife. Bhole Baba & his wife have been missing since the incident. The UP Police even carried out a search operation at his ashram - Ram Kutir Charitable Trust in Mainpuri district but he & his wife were not there either. The UP police are working hard to locate Bhole Baba & his wife and to probe the incident. The Uttar Pradesh Government has launched two helpline numbers -- 05722227041 and 05722227042 to assist in the incident.
