Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stated that those behind the ‘prayer meet’ organized by godman Bhole Baba in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, “tried to cover up the incident” following his visit to the scene. The event resulted in a stampede that claimed the lives of over a hundred people. “This will not happen again… there will be SOPs we will ensure that,” he said.
The Chief Minister announced that various apparent failures, including permission issues and a possible lack of crowd management and safety measures, had already been reported to a high-level judicial commission that will be chaired by a retired High Court judge. “The culprits won’t be spared” Yogi said.
At least 121 people were killed in this incident including children. Six devotees from the dead were from Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and rest were from different places of Uttar Pradesh.
“I talked to a few witnesses, and they told me that when women sought to touch the godman’s feet during the ‘satsang,’ a wave of people pressed forward, and security pushed back. Then they made an effort to hide the problem,” he remarked.
No arrests have been made by police so far.