Hathras stampede: Two more arrested, Bhole Baba may also be summoned, say police

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The Uttar Pradesh Police on Saturday said that Surajpal alias Narayan Sakar Hari alias Bhole Baba may also be summoned to join the ongoing investigation into the stampede that claimed 121 lives. The police have also arrested two more people who were among the main organisers on Saturday.  

Meanwhile, a three-member Judicial Inquiry Commission formed by the Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday inspected the spot where the stampede took place on July 2.

Dev Prakash Madhukar, the main accused in the July 2 Hathras stampede which claimed 121 lives, was taken into custody by Uttar Pradesh Police after he surrendered in Delhi, his lawyer claimed on Friday night. Madhukar, the 'mukhya sevadar' of the 'satsang' where the stampede occurred, is the only accused named in the FIR lodged at Sikandra Rao police station in Hathras in connection with the incident. In a video message, Madhukar's lawyer A P Singh claimed that his client had surrendered in Delhi, where he was undergoing treatment.

Nipun Aggarwal, Superintendent of Police Hathras said, "See, the SOG of Hathras district arrested Dev Prakash Madhukar yesterday evening in from Delhi's Najafgarh. They have been questioned... The list of donors is being compiled to see from where funding is being done. We are also corresponding with the Income Tax Department. Whoever is guilty of this, they will not be spared."

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Till Thursday, six people, including two women volunteers who were members of the organising committee of Bhole Baba's 'satsang', had been arrested in the case. An FIR was lodged in the matter on July 2 under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 223 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by the public servant) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence). On July 3, the Uttar Pradesh government had formed a three-member judicial commission headed by a retired high court judge to probe the Hathras tragedy and to look into the possibility of a conspiracy behind the stampede.