Hathras stampede toll reaches 121; prelim probe report says pushing by godman’s men led to stampede

Lucknow, July 3

As the Hathras stampede toll mounted to 121 on Wednesday, a preliminary report of the SDM said the “slippery slope” and the chaos caused after Narayan Sakaar Hari’s followers were pushed by the godman’s security resulted in the tragedy.

Editorial: Hathras stampede

The Sikandra Rao SDM submitted the preliminary report on the stampede to the District Magistrate. The SDM, who gave permission for the ‘satsang’, was also present at the venue when the incident occurred, the report said.

“A crowd of more than 2 lakh people was present in the pandal. Around 1.40 pm, when Bhole Baba came out of the pandal, his followers started running towards him for ‘darshan’ andto collect the soil on which he had walked.

“Baba’s personal security and ‘sevadars’ started pushing and shoving the crowd due to which some people fell down,” the report stated, adding that this led to a panic. “The crowd ran towards the open field where most of the people slipped and fell due to the wet slope,” the report said.