Hathras: Over 116 people died and several others were injured in a stampede at a spiritual gathering in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras on Tuesday. The event was organised by Manav Mangal Milan Sadbhavana Samagam Committee and was being led by a spiritual leader who is known as Bhole Baba aka Narayan Sakar Hari in Hathras’ Phulrai Mugalgadhi village. After the incident was reported, police said the place where the event was held was too small to accommodate the crowd and a committee has been formed to probe the incident and an FIR has been filed against the organisers.
Bhole Baba Helped His Father In Farmlands
The spiritual leader Narayan Sakar Hari, popularly known as Bhole Baba, is from Patiyali in Etah and the stampede broke out during the ‘satsang’ event. A report by Navbharat Times suggests that Bhole Baba used to help his father in their farmlands. Later, he joined the police and served in the local intelligence department of Uttar Pradesh Police. His whole career spanned for 17 years, after which he assumed the role of a self-made godman.
Unlike other godmen and godwomen, Bole Baba always loves to wear white dress and his satsang events usually attract hundreds of followers.
One of the features of Bhole Baba is he does not wear saffron clothes and prefers to wear a white suit and tie. He also loves to wear kurta-pyjama. In his speeches during satsangs, he says that he does not keep any amount from the donations that are given to him and spends it all on his devotees. His wife, Prem Bati, usually accompanies him.
Earlier he had said that said he quit his job to begin his spiritual journey as a preacher after retiring as a cop. Bhole Baba, who has often claimed that he has worked with the Intelligence Bureau, also told his devotees that he was inclined towards spirituality even when he was working and had resigned in the 1990s to pursue the spiritual path.
He was born in Bahadur Nagari village in Uttar Pradesh’s Etah district to a farmer, Nanne Lal, and Katori Devi. He had two brothers, one of whom is dead, and completed his schooling in the village.
In the meantime, the Uttar Pradesh police carried out a search operation at Ram Kutir Charitable Trust in Mainpuri district in search of ‘Bhole Baba’ and Deputy Superintendent of Police Sunil Kumar revealed that Baba ji was not found inside the campus. “We did not find Baba ji inside the campus…He is not here…” said Deputy SP Sunil Kumar.
Aligarh DM Vishak G Iyer said that as many as 23 bodies have been brought to Aligarh and a total of three injured people are receiving treatment and out of them one is in critical condition.
“A total of 23 bodies have been brought to Aligarh…Three injured people from the Hathras incident are getting treatment at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College. Out of them, two are in stable condition whereas one is in critical condition. We have talked to the hospital administration and the procedure to take the (critical) patient to the ICU is underway…” said Aligarh DM Vishak G Iyer.
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