Pushing by Baba's security, slippery slope led to incident, says SDM's report

Chaos caused after Narayan Sakaar Haris followers were pushed by the godmans security and a slippery slope resulted in the stampede that killed 121 people in Hathras on Tuesday a preliminary report by the SDM saidThe preliminary report on the stampede was submitted by Sikandra Rau subdivisional magistrate SDM to the district magistrate DMThe SDM who gave permission for the satsang religious congregation was also present at the venue when the incident occurred according to the reportA crowd of more than 2 lakh people was present in the satsang pandal Shri Narayan Sakar Hari Bhole Baba reached the satsang pandal at about 1230 pm and the program went on for 1 hourAfter this at about 140 pm Shri Narayan Sakaar Hari Bhole Baba came out of the pandal to go towards Etah on National Highway91 the preliminary report said adding that when the godman was leaving the venue his followers started running towards him for a darshan and collect soil from around his feetSatsangi womenmenchildren etc started applying the dust of Babas feet on their foreheads while trying to get his darshan touch his feet and take his blessings reads the report dated July 2The situation worsened when more people waiting on the divider of the road ahead began running towards his vehicle it saidA large number of people were already standing on the dividers in the middle and on the sides of GT road who started jumping from the dividers and started running towards Babas vehicle to get his darshanThen Babas personal security personnel Black Commandos and sevadars started pushing and shoving the crowd themselves to stop the crowd due to which some people fell down the report states adding this led to a panic and the crowd went out of controlDue to which the crowd ran towards the open field in front of the venue to get relief on the other side of the road where most of the people slipped and fell due to the wet slope while descending from the road towards the field the report saidThose who fell could not get up again and were run over by those coming from behind it saidAfter this they could not get up again and the crowd started running here and there over them the report mentionedMukhya sevadar Devprakash Madhukar and other organisers have been named in the first information report FIR filed at the Sikandra Rau police station late on Tuesday a senior officer told PTIThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever