'Lapse On Administration's Part': Rahul Gandhi After Meeting Hathras Stampede Victims’ Kin | Updates

Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Friday morning left for Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, where a stampede during a religious gathering killed 121 people and injured 31. The Congress leader first stopped at Pilakhna village in Aligarh to meet some of the victims’ families.

“Rahul ji left for Hathras from Delhi at around 5.10 am (on Friday),” state Congress chief Ajay Rai said.

Apart from Rai, state Congress in-charge Avinash Pande, party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate, and other office bearers are accompanying Gandhi to Hathras.

The senior Congress leader landed in Pilakhna village in Aligarh around 7.15 am after he left by road from Delhi. Later, Gandhi is scheduled to meet families of the stampede victims in Hathras’s Vibhav Nagar area.

Following Rahul Gandhi’s visit, a member of a bereaved family said, “He told us that he would help us with the help of the party. He asked us how everything happened.”

After meeting the victims’ families, Rahul Gandhi said, “The grieving families said there were lapses on police and administration’s part. There should be proper investigation. Also, the compensation declared is not enough. There should be more aid and they are in need now.”

Here are the top developments in the matter.

• Six people have been arrested in connection with the stampede in UP’s Hathras district during a religious discourse on Tuesday that left 121 people dead.
• Those arrested have been identified by the police as Ram Ladaite (50), Upendra ingh Yadav (62), Megh Singh (61), Mukesh Kumar (38), and women Manju Yadav (30) and Manju Devi (40).
• IG Mathur said, “When information regarding the arrestees was obtained through detailed enquiry, these people told during inquiry that they are members of the organising committee and work as ‘sevadars’.” “The organisers and members gathered crowd and collected donations in the ‘satsang’ committee for cooperation,” the officer added.
• The FIR was lodged on July 2 under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 223 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by the public servant) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence).
• ‘Mukhya Sevadar’ Dev Prakash Madhukar has been identified as the main accused in the FIR. The police have announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to his arrest.
• Aligarh Range Inspector General (IG) Shalabh Mathur said the stampede occurred as people ran after the preacher’s convoy to touch the dust under his feet, adding that a conspiracy angle in the incident would be probed.
• A preliminary inquiry report said chaos – caused after the followers were pushed by the godman’s security – and a “slippery slope” resulted in the stampede.
• Two congregations of religious preacher Saakar Vishwa Hari Bhole Baba in Hathras have been cancelled after the stampede incident. One of the ‘Satsang Sabhas’ was supposed to be held from July 4 to 11 in Saiyan and the other from July 13 to 23 in Shastripuram.
• Surajpal, also known as Narayan Sakar Hari and Bhole Baba, is not named in the FIR registered by the UP police. However, the police plan to question him if required. On Thursday, the police searched his Mainpuri ashram but couldn’t find him.

(With inputs from agencies)