AGRA: Police have submitted a 3,200-page chargesheet on the Hathras stampede which claimed 121 lives on July 2 and took place during a congregation organised by self-styled ‘godman’ Surajpal Singh alias Bhole Baba. The chargesheet names 11 accused, including two women, but does not mention Bhole Baba as an accused in the case.
Defence lawyer AP Singh, representing the accused, said, “The trial will commence once the court takes cognisance of the chargesheet.The next hearing is scheduled for Oct 4.”
On Tuesday, 10 accused, including the main organiser and fundraiser of the event, Dev Prakash Madhukar, were brought from Aligarh district jail to Hathras district court as part of the legal process.
SIT report also didn’t question Baba’s role in Hathras tragedy
An FIR was lodged in the matter on July 2 under 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).
Allahabad high court had in Sept granted conditional interim bail to the two accused women – Manju Devi and Manju Yadav – while the remaining nine accused continued to be in custody.
Earlier, a special investigation team (SIT) had submitted a report on the deaths, leading to the suspension of six officials, including deputy superintendent of police (circle officer) of Sikandra Rao, Anand Kumar, sub-divisional magistrate Ravindra Kumar, tehsildar Sushil Kumar and two sub-inspectors – Manveer Singh and Brijesh Pandey – for “negligence and dereliction of duty”. Interestingly, the SIT report did not raise any questions about the role of Bhole Baba.
Govt agencies, including police, have attributed the tragedy to “mismanagement” by the organisers, highlighting that the crowd numbers exceeded 2.5 lakh, surpassing the permitted 80,000. Bhole Baba’s lawyer also claimed that the stampede was triggered by “some poisonous substance” sprayed by “some unidentified men”.
On July 3, UP govt had formed a three-member judicial commission, headed by retired Allahabad high court judge Brijesh Kumar Srivastav, to investigate the case and explore the possibility of a “conspiracy” behind the stampede. The commission is yet to conclude its probe.