Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday morning visited families of victims who lost their lives in the Hathras stampede. Congress leader first arrived at Pilakhna village in Aligarh and four person from the village had died in the incident.
Rahul Gandhi was accompanied by Uttar Pradesh President Congress Chief Ajai Rai, in-charge Avinash Pande, party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate, and other office bearers. His visit marks the first visit by a senior opposition leader to the region since the mishap happened.
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The stampede happened on the evening of July 2 at a Satsang of religious preacher Suraj Pal Singh, known to his followers as Narayan Sakar Hari and ‘Bhole Baba’. In the tragic incident, 121 people lost their lives and more than a dozen got injured.
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“He told us that he would help us with the help of the party. He asked us how everything happened,” a family member of one of the victims told ANI.
The Uttar Pradesh police conducted a raid at Ram Kutir Charitable Trust in Mainpuri district in search of ‘Bhola Baba’. Deputy Superintendent of Police Sunil Kumar said that Bhole Baba was not found inside the campus.
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An FIR has been registered against the organisers of the event on the ground that since permission was granted for 80,000 people but over 2.5 lakh devotees attended the event.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited the site of the tragedy on Wednesday, and ordered a judicial investigation into the incident.
A three-member Judicial Inquiry Commission, headed by Justice (retired) Brijesh Kumar Srivastava, has been formed to probe the matter. The Commission will investigate it over the next two months and submit its report to the State Government.
As per the initial reports, the stampede took place when Bhole Baba’s followers rushed to seek blessings and collect soil from around his feet. As they were stopped by his security personnel, they started pushing one another and in the chaos several people fell down resulting the tragedy.
