Bodies of stampede victims identified and handed over to families: Hathras DM

Hathras (Upper): Hathras District Magistrate Ashish Kumar said the bodies of all the victims of the Hathras stampede have been identified and handed over to their families.

A total of 121 people, mostly women, died after the stampede at the “satsang” (religious congregation) of self-styled god Baba Bhole in Hathras on Tuesday.

The district magistrate said on Thursday: “There were three bodies which were unidentified till Wednesday. Two of them were identified late on Wednesday night.”

Meanwhile, a body has been identified by the family during a video call at Aligarh hospital and they are on their way to the facility, he added.

According to authorities, the crowd at the congregation exceeded 2.5 lakh, while the permitted limit was 80,000.

Meanwhile, self-styled godman Bhole Baba alias Suraj Pal alias Narayan Sakar Vishwa Hari remains untraceable by the police who have also raided his ashrams at several places in Madhya Pradesh. His manager Dev Prakash Mathur also remains untraceable.

Meanwhile, a retired police officer, Tejveer Singh, who was then the station chief of Shahganj police station in Agra, recalled the preacher's arrest in March 2000.

“Suraj Pal, accompanied by 200-250 people, reached the cremation ground where the body of a 16-year-old girl had been brought by her family. Suraj Pal and others prevented the family from performing the last rites and tried to convince them that he could resurrect her,” he said.

According to police records, the girl, Sneh Lata, was the daughter of a local resident. The case was filed on March 18, 2000.

Singh said the accused had taken the body forcibly from the family. In the meantime, the police were informed.

“When we reached the spot, Suraj Pal and his supporters argued with us. He claimed that he could resurrect the girl. His supporters then started pelting stones at the police team. Additional police personnel were called and the situation was brought under control. We arrested Suraj Pal and others involved,” said Singh, who retired as deputy superintendent of police in 2019.

A case has been lodged at Shahganj police station against six persons including Suraj Pal, his wife and four others (including two women) under Section 109 of the Indian Penal Code (punishment for incitement if the act incited is done in consequence thereof and when no express provision is made for its punishment) and the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act.