Belongings of followers of Bhole Baba lying at the scene a day after a massive stampede that took place during a 'satsang' (religious congregation), in Sikandara Rao area in Hathras district, Wednesday, July 3, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow: Sakar Hari Bhole Baba, in whose ‘satsang’ (religious congregation) at Phulrai village in Hathras district 121 devotees were killed in a stampede on Tuesday, was ‘untraceable’ after the incident even as it had now come to the light that he faced several criminal cases, including a sexual assault case.
According to the sources, the Baba, who served with the UP police before allegedly being sacked following the ‘sexual assault’ case, had also been booked a few years back after he claimed that he would infuse life into a dead child in Agra.
Sources said that Bhole Baba had served a prison term for some time and after his release from the jail, he changed his identity and became a ‘kathavachak’ (priest narrator).
While the Baba was now untraceable, one of the chief organisers of the event, Dev Prakash Madhukar, had also been ‘missing’ after the tragedy, police sources said in Hathras.
Sources said that a police team led by deputy superintendent of police Sunil Kumar Singh Chauhan launched a search operation on Tuesday night and also raided one of the ashrams of Bhole Baba in Mainpuri district but he was not there.
Reports in the local media in Hathras claimed that Bhole Baba had come to his Mainpuri ashram around midnight and left around dawn on Wednesday.
Interestingly Bhole Baba’s name does not figure in the FIR lodged by the police in connection with Tuesday’s tragedy. The name of Madhukar and some other organisers were however figured in the FIR, sources said.
Bhole Baba is said to have a large following in the region, reports said adding that he organised such congregations every Tuesday in which thousands of devotees took part. He is reported to have connections with many leading politicians also. His photographs with senior politicians were now viral on social media.
Reports said that Bhole Baba hailed from Etah and that he had an ‘army’ of bodyguards. He also had ashrams in several cities and he owned huge tracts of land in different places.