Hathras Stampede: 11 Excluding Bhole Baba Chargesheeted; BSP Slams UP Govt

Lucknow: A stampede occurred on July 2 during a satsang led by Bhole Baba in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district, resulting in 121 deaths, mostly women and children. However, Bhole Baba, also known as Surajpal Singh, has not been named in the charge sheet despite the FIR registering multiple other individuals.

The charge sheet, filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), lists 11 people, including chief organiser Dev Prakash Madhukar, Megh Singh, Mukesh Kumar and two women volunteers, Manju Devi and Manju Yadav, among others. Madhukar is the primary accused. Two of the female accused have secured interim bail from the Allahabad High Court, though only Manju Devi has been released.

The Uttar Pradesh government had formed the SIT and a judicial commission to investigate the incident. The SIT report, submitted to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, led to the suspension of six officials, including the SDM and the in-charge of Sikandra Rau police station. The SIT did not dismiss the possibility of a larger conspiracy behind the incident.

Despite the investigation, Bhole Baba’s exclusion from the charge sheet has drawn criticism, particularly from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati. She accused the BJP-led UP government of shielding Bhole Baba, terming it anti-people politics. “The absence of Bhole Baba’s name in the charge sheet filed in the court after the investigation of this incident is anti-people politics, which proves that such people have the protection of the state government,” she alleged.

Mayawati further questioned whether the government’s silence on Bhole Baba would prevent similar incidents in the future.

The next hearing in the case is set for tomorrow in the CJM court, where the accused will receive copies of the charge sheet.