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Hathras stampede: Main accused Dev Prakash Madhukar, Bhole Baba's aide, arrested
On Thursday, the Hathras police arrested six people from the satsang's organising committee, including two women volunteers.
Dev Prakash Madhukar, the main accused in the Hathras stampede case and an aide of self-style godman Surajpal alias Narayan Sakar Hari alias Bhole Baba, was arrested from Delhi on Friday. Hathras Superintendent of Police Nipun Agarwal confirmed Madhukar's arrest from Delhi, adding that he was being brought to Hathras to be presented in the court.
Madhukar, the 'mukhya sevadar' of the ‘satsang’ where the stampede occurred, is the only accused named in the FIR lodged at Sikandra Rao police station in Hathras in connection with the incident.
In a video message, Madhukar's lawyer AP Singh claimed that his client had surrendered in Delhi, where he was undergoing treatment.
"Today, we have surrendered Dev Prakash Madhukar, who has been called the main organiser in the FIR in the Hathras case, after calling the police, the SIT and the STF in Delhi since he was undergoing treatment here," AP Singh said.
“We had promised we would not apply for anticipatory bail since we did no wrong. What is our crime? He is an engineer and a heart patient. Doctors said his condition is stable now and so we surrendered today to join the probe,” he added.
On Friday, Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, visited Hathras and met with the families of the stampede victims. He said the families told him that there were not enough police arrangements for the religious event, which caused the stampede.
On Thursday, the Hathras police arrested six people from the satsang's organising committee, including two women volunteers. These arrests happened a day after chief minister Yogi Adityanath visited Hathras.
Police said no one was cleared yet and everyone mentioned during the investigation, including Bhole Baba, will be questioned if needed.
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“Six, including two women sevadars (volunteers) from the organising committee, have been arrested and a search is on for the main accused in (connection with the) FIR lodged. The incharge of the Samagam (satsang) Dev Prakash Madhukar (Engineer), in whose name permission was sought for the satsang, is absconding after being named in FIR by Hathras police. A reward of ₹1 lakh has been declared on his arrest and NBW (non-bailable warrant) issued. Teams are searching for him,” inspector general of police, Aligarh range, Shalabh Mathur said.
The six people arrested on Thursday by Sikandra Rau police in Hathras are Ram Ladete (50) from Mainpuri, Upendra Singh Yadav (62) from Firozabad, Megh Singh (61) from Hathras, Manju Yadav (30) from Hathras, Mukesh Kumar (38) from Hathras, and Manju Devi (40) from Hathras.
“On interrogation, it was learnt that these arrested are members of organising committee and work as sevadars (volunteers) and were involved in gathering of crowd, collection of donations, barricading, crowd management, electricity arrangements at venue, parking of vehicles and cleanliness. They were given uniform by organisers. These sevadar gave out that they did not allow police and administration to have photo and video of event and even misbehaved when questioned,” said Mathur.
