‘Honee Ko Kaun Taal Sakta Hai, Death Is Inevitable’: Bhole Baba On Hathras Stampede That Killed 121

Bhole Baba reiterated through his lawyer A.P. Singh assertion of a "conspiracy" being the cause of the stampede.

Lucknow: The self-proclaimed holy man, Bhole Baba, expressed his disturbance over the Hathras stampede on Wednesday, stating, “Nobody can avoid what is destined, and everyone has to die one day.”

“Honee ko kaun taal sakta hai (nobody can avoid what has to happen),” he told PTI Videos, after 121 people died in a stampede on July 2 at a ‘satsang’ held by him. “Jo aaya hai use ek din to jaana bhi hai, bhale hee koi aagey peechey ho,” he added. This roughly translates to the fact that death is inevitable for everyone; it is only the timing that remains unknown.

Bhole Baba, also referred to as Narayan Sakar Hari, and originally named Surajpal, reiterated through his lawyer A.P. Singh the previous assertion of a “conspiracy” being the cause of the stampede.

“After the July 2 incident, I was very depressed and disturbed. But nobody can avoid what has to happen… What my lawyer and eyewitnesses said about the poisonous spray is completely true, there has definitely been a conspiracy,” he said. He also mentioned that there are individuals attempting to tarnish the reputation of his organization, which operates on the principles of Sanatan and truth.

“We have full faith in the SIT and judicial commission, and all the followers of the first Manav Mangal Milan Sadbhavana Samagam also believe that truth will come out and the conspiracy will be exposed,” he said adding “we stand with the families of all those who died in the incident”.

Earlier, his lawyer A P Singh said Bhole Baba has reached his ashram at Bahadur Nagar village in Kasganj.

“He has reached his ashram and will stay here. He came here from another ashram. He was never at anyone’s place or any hotel or other country,” Singh said adding that the village is Baba’s ‘janmasthali’ (birthplace) and he last came here for a day in 2023.

The Uttar Pradesh government has established an SIT and a judicial commission to investigate the incident. The FIR filed at the Sikandrarau police station did not list the godman as an accused. The report submitted by the SIT to the state government on July 9 suggested the possibility of a “large-scale conspiracy” behind the stampede. Additionally, it highlighted failures by the local administration that contributed to the incident.

The report attributed the incident to the organisers, stating they failed to control the crowd, and also implicated the administration, as per official sources. Bhole Baba’s lawyer, on July 6, alleged that the stampede was caused by “some poisonous substance” dispersed by “some unidentified individuals.”

Earlier, government agencies, including police, had blamed the organisers for the mismanagement at the event, noting that the size of the crowd exceeded to over 2.50 lakh from the permitted 80,000.

(With PTI inputs)