Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday met the family members of those who lost their lives in the deadly stampede in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras. Before reaching Hathras, Gandhi made a stop at Aligarh and met the kin of victims from the district.
"It is a sad incident. Several people have died. I don't want to say this from a political prism but there have been deficiencies on the part of the administration and the important thing is that maximum compensation should be given as they are poor families. I request UP CM Yogi Adityanath to provide compensation open-heartedly. If there is a delay in the compensation, it will not benefit anyone. I had a personal conversation with the family members of the deceased and they told me that there was no police arrangement. They are in shock and I just wanted to understand their situation..." said LoP Rahul Gandhi.
Ealier on Thursday, Police officials claimed that the organisers of satsangs of Narayan Sakar Hari or Bhole baba did not allow police or administrative interference when it came to controlling crowds at the event, and also did not let any devotee or other person shoot videos of the event. Six sevadars or organisers have been arrested so far.
Six sevadars, including two women, were arrested, the police informed the media. Separately, it announced a Rs 1 lakh reward for anyone providing information on the whereabouts of the prime accused, Dev Prakash Madhukar, who was the chief organiser of the satsang where at least 121 people lost their lives in the stampede.
What happened at Bhole Baba's satsang?
Uttar Pradesh Police constable Sheela Maurya, who was on security duty at the Hathras religious event, said the stampede occurred as a large number of people rushed to exit the venue together. In the Hathras stampede, 123 people were killed.
Maurya said that she helped various women get over the situation but eventually, she also fell and suffered injuries.
"I was deputed in front of the stage. There was a huge crowd there after the event concluded. People started falling over each other. I helped many women but later even I fell and suffered injuries. The problem was that there was a huge crowd and everyone started exiting the venue together. At the time, I was only trying to save people. The CM asked me about the incident yesterday," she said.
She said that the ground was muddy because of rain, and it was hard for people to get out.
"There are farmlands there, that's how people tried to make it out," she added.
On Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited the spot and ordered a judicial probe into the incident.
A three-member Judicial Inquiry Commission under the chairmanship of Justice (retd) Brijesh Kumar Srivastava has been constituted to ensure comprehensiveness of the subject matter and transparency in the inquiry, according to an official statement.
The Judicial Commission will investigate the various aspects of the Hathras stampede in the next two months and after the investigation, a report will be submitted to the State Government.
The preacher 'Bhole Baba' identified as Suraj Pal is also known by the names of Narayan Sakar Hari and Jagat Guru Vishwahari.
(with agency inputs)
"It is a sad incident. Several people have died. I don't want to say this from a political prism but there have been deficiencies on the part of the administration and the important thing is that maximum compensation should be given as they are poor families. I request UP CM Yogi Adityanath to provide compensation open-heartedly. If there is a delay in the compensation, it will not benefit anyone. I had a personal conversation with the family members of the deceased and they told me that there was no police arrangement. They are in shock and I just wanted to understand their situation..." said LoP Rahul Gandhi.
Ealier on Thursday, Police officials claimed that the organisers of satsangs of Narayan Sakar Hari or Bhole baba did not allow police or administrative interference when it came to controlling crowds at the event, and also did not let any devotee or other person shoot videos of the event. Six sevadars or organisers have been arrested so far.
Six sevadars, including two women, were arrested, the police informed the media. Separately, it announced a Rs 1 lakh reward for anyone providing information on the whereabouts of the prime accused, Dev Prakash Madhukar, who was the chief organiser of the satsang where at least 121 people lost their lives in the stampede.
What happened at Bhole Baba's satsang?
Uttar Pradesh Police constable Sheela Maurya, who was on security duty at the Hathras religious event, said the stampede occurred as a large number of people rushed to exit the venue together. In the Hathras stampede, 123 people were killed.
Maurya said that she helped various women get over the situation but eventually, she also fell and suffered injuries.
"I was deputed in front of the stage. There was a huge crowd there after the event concluded. People started falling over each other. I helped many women but later even I fell and suffered injuries. The problem was that there was a huge crowd and everyone started exiting the venue together. At the time, I was only trying to save people. The CM asked me about the incident yesterday," she said.
She said that the ground was muddy because of rain, and it was hard for people to get out.
"There are farmlands there, that's how people tried to make it out," she added.
On Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited the spot and ordered a judicial probe into the incident.
A three-member Judicial Inquiry Commission under the chairmanship of Justice (retd) Brijesh Kumar Srivastava has been constituted to ensure comprehensiveness of the subject matter and transparency in the inquiry, according to an official statement.
The Judicial Commission will investigate the various aspects of the Hathras stampede in the next two months and after the investigation, a report will be submitted to the State Government.
The preacher 'Bhole Baba' identified as Suraj Pal is also known by the names of Narayan Sakar Hari and Jagat Guru Vishwahari.
(with agency inputs)
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