Deployed 160 cops including 40 for traffic at Hathras event on July 2: Official

A senior police officer from the Hathras police told HT that the district police deployed the force after the event organisers obtained permission for a gathering of about 80,000

The Hathras district administration had deployed nearly 160 police personnel including 40 traffic personnel to manage the 80,000 devotees expected to turn up at the satsang of Narayan Sarkar Hari in Hathras’s Phulari Mughalgarhi area on July 2, a district police officer said.

The stampede tragedy in Hathras led to the death of 121 people including 112 women on July 2. (PTI photo)

The stampede tragedy in Hathras led to the death of 121 people including 112 women on July 2.

A senior police officer from the Hathras police told HT that the district police deployed the force after the event organisers obtained permission from sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Sikandra Rao for a gathering of about 80,000 persons at the satsang venue hosted in agricultural fields of Phulrai adjacent to National Highway (NH)-91.

Permission was obtained by organising committee members on June 17.

“There was a deployment of about 100 personnel from the civil police and about 1.5 section of the provincial armed constabulary. The 1.5 section consists of about 12-15 personnel having anti-riot equipment. The duty chart of the traffic duties was for about 40 traffic police personnel. Apart from this, there was presence of the local intelligence unit,” the officer told HT on the condition of anonymity.

After the incident, SDM Ravindra Kumar Singh, who was present at the site, wrote a letter to the district magistrate and stated that the permission was only for a gathering of about 80,000 while the gathering swelled to more than two lakhs.

According to the contents of the letter, the private security persons, also called as black commandoes, of Narayan Hari Sarkar allegedly pushed crowds to prevent them from reaching near the preacher resulting in chaos.

“The crowd ran to the fields on opposite side of the road, and many fell down and crowd overran them… this led to many women, children and men getting injured,” the letter stated.

The letter doesn’t mention the role of civil police or other personnel in controlling the crowd, but says that the police and other personnel rushed the injured to the nearest community health centre (CHC) at Sikandra Deo with whatever resources available.

“At CHC, Sikandra Deo, 96 persons were brought dead and about 40 injured. The CHC is a 30-bedded facility and has oxygen support on all beds,” Dr Manjit Singh, chief medical officer of Hathras told HT.

The police officer quoted above said that the private commandoes in black uniform and hundreds of sewadars, including men and women, managed the internal cordon at the satsang and did not give access to internal cordon to anyone.

“The sewadars were in pink colored dress, and they don’t give access to inner cordon to anyone. They don’t even allow anyone to shoot videos. There was a media person who tried to shoot videos, but he was prevented from doing so,” the police officer quoted above, said.

During the probe, Hathras police blamed the black commandoes and sewadars.

Six sewadars, including two women, were initially arrested by the Hathras police on Thursday.

The first information report (FIR) lodged suo motu by the police did not name ‘baba’ as a suspect but primarily blamed the event organisers as they had taken permission for the satsang event.

Nipun Agarwal, superintendent of police (Hathras), said “A detailed inquiry and investigation is underway about the stampede incident.”

AP Singh, the lawyer representing Baba, said that there were outsiders involved during the stampede incident.

“The injured persons I met in Aligarh and in Hathras told me that these were strong-built men and possibly in an inebriated state. They created mischief and this led to the incident. Baba had left the venue before the stampede started,” Singh added.