Hathras stampede: UP govt official's letter narrates how tragedy unfolded

Hathras stampede: The event by self-styled godman Narayan Sakar Hari, also called “Bhole Baba”, was held near the village situated on the National Highway-91

A letter by Hathras Sub divisional magistrate Sikandra Rao narrated the chain of events that ultimately led to stampede, claiming the lives of nearly 121 people and injuring hundreds at a religious ‘Satsang’ event in Fulari village.

People gather at the site of a stampede in Hathras in India's Uttar Pradesh state on July 3, 2024. Survivors of India's deadliest stampede in over a decade on July 3 recalled the horror of being crushed at a vastly overcrowded Hindu religious gathering that left 116 people dead. (Photo by Arun SANKAR) (AFP)

The event by self-styled godman Narayan Sakar Hari, also called “Bhole Baba”, was held near the village situated on the National Highway-91, Sirau to Etah road. Explaining the timeline, the letter said, “A crowd of more than 2 lakhs was present in the Satsang platform. Shri Narayan Sakar Hari (Bhole Baba) reached the Satsang Pandal at around 12.30 pm and the programme continued for 1 hour.”

On the events leading to the tragedy, the SDM letter explained, “After this, at around 01.40 PM, Shri Narayan Sakar Hari (Bhole Baba) came out of the Pandal to go towards Etah on National Highway-91. Towards the path through which Bhole Baba was coming out, Satsangi women/men/children etc started taking his feet's rug and applying it on their forehead as a mark of darshan and touching his feet and blessings.”

A large number of people, already standing for darshan on the divider built on the side and middle of the GT Road, tried to reach the godman. "When people started jumping and running towards Baba's vehicle to have darshan, his security personnel (Black Commando) and servants started pushing and shoving with the crowd who could not reach the Baba. Due to this, some people fell down. But the crowd did not agree, and an atmosphere of chaos was created, the letter elaborated.

The crowd ran to the other side of the road towards the open field in front of the venue to get relief, where most of the people slipped and fell descending from the road to the field. After this, they could not get up again and the crowd started running here and there, passing over him, in which many women, men and children were injured/seriously injured, the letter added.

The SDM claimed that the revenue and police security personnel, sent the victims to the hospitals and community health centers nearby through ambulance and other means that were available on the spot.

On the death toll, the letter said, 89 devotees were declared dead on arrival and others were sent for treatment to Etah district, where 27 more devotees were declared dead, taking the death toll to 116.

The victims included children, women and men. A total of 23 people were injured, out of which 11 people are being treated at Bangla Hospital, Hathras, 6 people are at Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Hospital, Aligarh and another 6 are at JNMC, Aligarh.

(With ANI inputs)