At least 121 people, including over 100 women and seven children, were killed in the Hathras stampede. The Uttar Pradesh government said most of the people who died in the stampede have been identified.
A day after 120 people were killed in the Hathras stampede, Uttar Pradesh police are searching for ‘Bhole Baba’ linked to the religious congregation in Phulrai village where the tragic incident happened.
A search operation was conducted at Ram Kutir Charitable Trust in Mainpuri district to locate Baba Narayan Hari, also known as Saakar Vishwa Hari Bhole Baba. ‘We did not find Baba ji inside the campus. He is not here,’ Deputy Superintendent of Police Sunil Kumar told ANI.
Hathras stampede: Overcrowding is the reason, says police
On Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh said overcrowding was one of the reasons behind the stampede. After the ‘satsang’, devotees were running after the vehicle of “Bhole Baba” and had organised the event, while some bent down to collect soil from the venue and fell, Singh said.
One of the causes (of the stampede) is overcrowding. People chasing Bhole Baba's car engaged in a race with one another. Additionally, it has come to light that individuals worship the dirt that they have collected from the road that the Baba travelled. People were leaning down and falling as a result, the chief secretary told PTI.
Hathras stampede: Autopsy awaited
Following the fatal stampede during a religious assembly on Tuesday night, scores of bodies were laying on blocks of ice inside the government hospital while the grieving relatives of the victims waited outside in the drizzle to carry their lifeless remains home. Authorities have reported 116 deaths, 108 of which were women and seven of which were children. The fatalities were among the hundreds of people who had assembled for the religious speaker Bhole Baba's "satsang" in Phulrai village in the Sikandrarau region.
The Uttar Pradesh administration reported that the majority of the 120 persons who perished in a stampede during a "satsang" held in the Sikandra Rao region of the Hathras district on Tuesday had been identified. Devotees had come to the ‘satsang’ from various districts of Uttar Pradesh as well as neighbouring states.