New Delhi: The investigation in the Hathras stampede has taken a political turn with the Uttar Pradesh police probing financial links between the main organiser of the satsang held for self-styled godman Narayan Sakaar Hari alias Bhole Baba and some political parties.
Police on Saturday arrested the chief sevadar of the July 2 event, Devprakash Madhukar, from Delhi late on Friday, days after declaring a bounty of Rs 1 lakh on him. Meanwhile, Madhukar’s lawyer A.P. Singh claimed that Madhukar had surrendered to police in a hospital in the national capital where he was receiving treatment for a heart-related condition. Police arrested two more persons linked to Hari’s event in Sikandra Rao in Hathras, taking the total number of arrests made in the case to nine, including two women.
However, what’s telling is that the police are now investigating if Hari’s outfit or the organisers of the event that led to the deadly stampede in which 121 lives were lost were funded by any political party.
Madhukar is the only person named in the criminal case related to the stampede and faces several charges including culpable homicide. He worked under MNREGA as a junior engineer on a contractual basis since 2010 in Etah and has been active with Hari for the last several years. According to police, Madhukar was allegedly the main organiser of Hari’s satsang events and also the one who raised funds for them.
Arrests made in connection with Hathras stampede. Photo: X (Twitter)/@hathraspolice.
Superintendent of Police Hathras, Nipun Agarwal, said during questioning it was revealed that sometime back some political parties had contacted Madhukar.
“A thorough investigation is being carried out regarding the collection of funds to see if any of their resources in any of their events were being funded by a political party. According to the questioning so far, it appears that a political party was associated with them for its political and personal reasons,” Agarwal said at a press conference in Hathras.
The bank accounts, moveable and immovable properties and money trails linked to Madhukar were being investigated, and if needed, necessary support would be taken from other investigative agencies, said the officer. “We will take strict action against any political party that is connected to them for its personal or political reasons,” he said.
While a judicial probe into the incident has been initiated, police have maintained their claim that the stampede took place due to the mismanagement of the organisers of the event.
Agarwal said that the organisers of the event had deployed their own volunteers or sevadars in “commando” fatigues to look into the management and security at the satsang. They did not allow any member of the administration to intervene and violated the conditions laid out to them while granting permission for the event, added Agarwal.
They also did not allow any photography or videography of the event, and according to the information gathered from Madhukar, allowed Hari’s vehicle to exit the venue after the satsang through the crowd even at the cost of a stampede, said the officer. Police have also accused the organisers of fleeing from the venue and making any attempts to handle the situation once the stampede broke out.
The police have not yet named which political party Madhukar had been in touch with. However, according to information gathered so far, it appears that the police could be hinting at the main Opposition Samajwadi Party after it became known that on January 3, 2023, its national president Akhilesh Yadav had attended a similar event in Etawah by Hari and even addressed the crowd, praising the godman. While announcing the judicial probe, chief minister Yogi Adityanath made a slant reference to this by talking about Yadav’s photos from the event.
Hari, who was born as Suraj Pal in a Dalit family in Etah and is a former police head constable, has not been named in the first information report (FIR). He has also not been questioned by police yet. In a video statement released through the government-leaning information broadcast agency ANI, Hari said he was deeply saddened by the stampede and asked people to “keep faith” in the government and the administration.
“I have faith that anyone who created the chaos would not be spared,” he said.
The UP government, while resisting any arrest or questioning of Hari, has so far peddled the possibility that the stampede could have been a “conspiracy” or a deliberate criminal act. These are also the terms of investigation laid out for the judicial probe committee headed by retired Allahabad high court judge B.K Srivastava. Apart from Madhukar, the police also arrested two more persons linked to the event, Ram Prasad Shakya and Sanju Yadav. Six persons were already arrested on July 4.
Ankit Yadav, the son of Ramladaite Yadav, one of those arrested, alleged that his father was falsely implicated and had nothing to do with the stampede. Ramladaite Yadav worked as a cleaner at the event and on the day of the event was given work at the parking spot 2 km away from the venue, said his son in a letter to SP president Akhilesh Yadav.
Politics takes centre stage
The SP chief said the BJP government was trying to hide its failure and wanted to shirk responsibility for the deaths by making minor arrests. “If this happens, it will mean that no one has learnt any lesson from the administrative failure in such events and such accidents will keep repeating in the future. The government and administration are needlessly arresting people who were away from the original venue with a specific motive and are preparing to hold them guilty after the arrest. These arrests are a conspiracy in themselves,” said Yadav.
He demanded a judicial inquiry into these arrests.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati also jumped into the controversy, a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited Hathras and met families who lost their dear ones in the tragedy.
Mayawati demanded strict action against Hari and others. “The government should not be lax in its political interests so that more people do not lose their lives,” she said.
Mayawati also warned the poor, Dalits and other oppressed people to not get “misled” by the “superstition and hypocrisy” of “babas like Bhole Baba” to get rid of their poverty and other problems. Rather, they should follow the path of B. R Ambedkar and change their own destiny by taking power into their own hands, she said.
Since those who died in the incident and the followers of Hari mostly belong to marginalised Hindu communities, especially Jatav Dalits, political parties are treading cautiously. Except for Mayawati, the Opposition has largely blamed the administration under the Adityanath government for failing to manage the crowds at the satsang.
“I don’t want to speak from a political prism, but there have been some lapses on the part of the administration. Mistakes have been made,” Rahul Gandhi told reporters in Hathras.
