Uttar Pradesh police have filed an exhaustive charge sheet while giving a clean chit to self-styled Godman Bhole Baba alias Surajpal in connection with the July 2 stampede incident which claimed 121 lives.
The 3200-page charge sheet against 11 accused was filed in the court on Tuesday, police confirmed here today.
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The stampede took place during a satsang of Bhoke Baba at Phulrai village in the Sikandra Rau area of the district on July 2.
However, Bhole Baba is not listed as accused in the charge sheet, which includes two women sevadars or volunteers among others. The Godman was also not among the persons against whom the FIR was registered by the police after the incident.
The charge sheet has been filed against Dev Prakash Madhukar (chief organiser of the event), Megh Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Manju Devi, Manju Yadav, Ram Ladhete, Upendra Singh, Sanju Kumar, Ram Prakash Shakya, Durvesh Kumar and Dalveer Singh. These names figured in the FIR as well. Madhukar is the prime accused in both the FIR and the charge sheet.
The UP government had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and a judicial commission to probe the stampede.
The next hearing in the case in the court of CJM will be held tomorrow when the accused will be given the copy of the charge sheet.
However, the police said that the investigation was still going on and more people could be included in the charge sheet.
Out of the 11 named and arrested in the case, two of the women accused — Manju Devi and Manju Yadav — have obtained interim bail from the Allahabad high court but only one is out of jail as in the case of Manju Yadav, bail bonds are yet to be submitted.
The FIR was lodged against the chief organiser Madhukar, besides others, for allegedly misleading the administration by seeking permission for a gathering of 80,000 devotees, whereas over 2 lakh people turned up for the religious congregation at Phulrai village.
The stampede took place during a satsang addressed by Surajpal, who hails from Bahadur Nagar village in Patiyali tehsil of Kasganj district in UP.
A week after the stampede, the SIT submitted its report to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on July 9. In the initial action, six officials, including SDM, tehsildar, circle officer and incharge Sikandra Rau police station were suspended. The SIT did not rule out a “big conspiracy” behind the stampede.
A separate judicial commission headed by retired Allahabad High Court judge Brijesh Kumar Srivastava is also probing the Hathras stampede case.
