India stampede: Main organiser of religious event surrenders to police

The chief organiser of an Indian preacher’s event where a stampede killed 121 people this week surrendered to police on Friday, a lawyer for the preacher said after police had launched a manhunt.

Devprakash Madhukar was named a key suspect in an initial report registered by police under charges including attempted culpable homicide. Police had announced a reward of 100,000 rupees for information leading to his arrest.

AP Singh, lawyer for self-styled godman Bhole Baba, said Madhukar was the main organiser of the Hindu religious event on Tuesday attended by about 250,000 people in a village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. District authorities had permitted an event of only 80,000 people.

“He has surrendered from Delhi. We are not seeking an anticipatory bail,” Singh told reporters. He denied any wrongdoing by the event’s organisers and said Devprakash was getting medical treatment in a hospital after the stampede.

On Saturday, the preacher said he was saddened by the incident and that his aides would help the injured and families of the deceased. “I have faith that anyone who created the chaos will not be spared,” he told Indian news agency ANI.

Indian police said on Thursday they had arrested six people over the stampede, which occurred on Tuesday in the village of Phulrai Mughal Garhi in Hathras district where about 250,000 people had gathered to listen to preacher Suraj Pal Singh, also known as “Bhole Baba”.

Officials suggested the stampede was triggered when worshippers tried to gather soil from the footsteps of the preacher, while others blamed a dust storm for sparking panic. Some fainted from the force of the crowd, before falling and being trampled upon, unable to move.

Baba is currently untraceable, and police in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where Tuesday’s tragedy occurred, said they were still trying to trace him.

Organisers of the event had obtained permission for a gathering of only 80,000 people, an initial police report said. Baba blamed the stampede on “anti-social elements”, but did not elaborate.

“If there is a need, we will question (him) … It is too early to say whether he had a role,” Uttar Pradesh police Inspector-General Shalabh Mathur said. AP Singh said he would also represent the six people who were arrested.