The Uttar Pradesh government has given the newly constituted three-member judicial commission two months to ascertain if the Hathras stampede that left more than 120 people dead was an accident or a conspiracy.
Former Allahabad High Court judge Justice Brijesh Kumar Srivastav will head the committee. IAS officer Hemant Rao and retired IPS officer Bhavesh Kumar will be its members.
The Uttar Pradesh government has directed the commission to complete the investigation within two months and find out whether this incident is an accident or a conspiracy or the possibility of any other planned criminal incident.
The commission will also probe if proper arrangements were made by the district administration and police for crowd control at the event. And whether the organisers complied with the conditions on which the permission for Satsang was granted for the event.
The commission will also recommend preventive measures to avoid any such incidents in future.
The Hathras stampede occured at a Satsang organised for Narayan Saakar Hari alias ‘Bhole Baba.' The self-styled godman was earlier known as Suraj Pal. According to reports, the religious congregation saw a crowd of over two lakh devotees, although permission was only granted for around 80,000 people.
This week, two separate Public Interest Litigations (PILs) were filed before the Supreme Court and Allahabad High Court seeking a judicial inquiry and CBI probe in the stampede.
The PIL in the Supreme Court sought the constitution of a five-member expert committee under the supervision of a retired Supreme Court judge to probe the incident.
According to media reports, the stampede that occurred at a religious congregation in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras, has claimed 123 with more than a dozen injured. The Uttar Pradesh Police has registered an FIR against the organisers of the religious congregation. The police have named 'Mukhya sevadar' Devprakash Madhukar and others in the first information report (FIR) filed.
Reportedly, the FIR has accused the organisers of hiding evidence and flouting conditions, with 2.5 lakh people gathering for the event, of which only 80,000 were permitted. However, the congregation or 'satsang' conductor Jagat Guru Saakar Vishwahari has not been named in the FIR though his name is in the complaint.
The FIR alleged that the organisers hid the actual number of devotees coming to the 'satsang' while seeking permission, did not cooperate in traffic management and hid evidence after the stampede, which broke out after people gathered there stopped to collect mud from the way the baba's vehicle was passing.