Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will meet the families of those who lost their loved ones in the Hathras tragedy. A stampede at a religious congregation earlier this week killed over 123 people and left several others injured.
“The incident in Hathras is sad. Rahul Gandhi will soon visit Hathras and meet the families of victims,” Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said on Thursday.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited Hathras on Wednesday. He met the injured persons in the hospital and assured justice.
The UP CM accused the organisers of the religious gathering, led by Bhole Baba, of “trying to cover up the incident”. “This will not happen again… there will be SOPs (standard operating protocols)… we will ensure that,” Adityanath vowed after visiting the site.
The state government has set up a three-member judicial inquiry commission led by retired Justice Brijesh Kumar Srivastava from the Allahabad High Court to investigate the Hathras stampede. Retired IAS officer Hemant Rao and retired IPS officer Bhavesh Kumar Singh have been appointed as members of the commission. The commission has been instructed to conclude its investigation within two months.
Over 120 people, including children, were tragically crushed to death by an estimated crowd of over 250,000 during a ‘satsang’ or ‘prayer meet’ led by Suraj Pal Singh, who identifies himself as Bhole Baba, in Hathras on Tuesday afternoon.
UP government and police officials are being criticised over the tragedy and questioned why such a large rally was permitted without adequate safety measures in place.
The police have filed a case against a close aide of Baba Bhole and the event organizers, but the FIR does not name the godman himself. Six people, including some of the organisers, have been arrested so far.
The self-styled godman has remained in hiding since the incident. But on Wednesday he declared that he will take legal action against “anti-social elements” that allegedly engineered the stampede.
Inspector General of Police (Aligarh Range) Shalabh Mathur told reporters that Bhole Baba has not been questioned yet.
Meanwhile, the police have cordoned off his ashram in Mainpuri, amid reports that he could be hiding in his palatial abode.
“We have found the location of his mobile phone to be near his ashram and we are keeping a close watch,” said a senior police official.
