Hathras stampede: Key accused, 9 others produced in court; next hearing on October 9

Hathras: Dev Prakash Madhukar, the main accused in the July 2 Hathras stampede that claimed 121 lives, and nine others were produced in a court here on Friday, a lawyer said.

The police had arrested 11 people involved in organising the programme of self-styled godman Surajpal alias 'Narayan Sakar Hari'. One of the accused, Manju Yadav, is currently out on bail following orders from the Allahabad High Court, according to the FIR.

Surajpal was not mention as accused in the case.

The accused, who are lodged in Aligarh jail, were produced in the District and Sessions Court, Hathras to get their copies of the charge sheet, defense lawyer A P Singh said on Friday.

He said the copies were to be provided in pen drives (USB) but some of the accused have moved an application to get hard copies of the charge sheet.

"The court has set October 9 as the next date for hearing in the case and before that a copy (of the charge sheet) would be supplied to the accused," Singh told reporters.

The matter is still under investigation, he said, adding "We will go through the charge sheet, it's a bulky 3,200 pages long charge sheet." The lawyer said 1100 affidavits were submitted and 500 people's statements were recorded in the case.

Prima facie the charge sheet does not mention anything about illegal properties or funding for the event from any political party, he claimed.

"The accused were engaged in arrangements like water and parking during the event. The stampede occurred because of spraying of some toxic substance and was part of an attempt to tarnish the image of the state government, Sanatan Dharma, Naarayan Sakar Hari (Surajpal)," he said.

"This could also be a conspiracy by some political party. Like we saw, the charge sheet copy was shared today but (BSP chief) Mayawati yesterday itself claimed that he (Surajpal) is being saved. How come she made that comment! Maybe she is jealous," he added.

A total of 121 people, mostly women, died in the stampede after a satsang of Surajpal alias Bhole Baba alias Narayan Sakar Hari on July 2 in Fulrai village in Hathras' Sikandra Rao area.

Government agencies, including police, have blamed the organisers for mismanagement at the event, noting the crowd size exceeded to over 2.50 lakh from the permitted 80,000, even though the lawyer of the 'godman' on claimed 'some poisonous substance' sprayed by 'some unidentified men' triggered the stampede.

An FIR was lodged in the matter on July 2 under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 223 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by the public servant) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence).

On July 3, the Uttar Pradesh government had formed a three-member judicial commission headed by a retired high court judge to probe the Hathras tragedy and to look into the possibility of a conspiracy behind the stampede.