Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said the government will investigate the Hathras stampede where 116 people were killed and added that strict punishment would be given to the conspirators and those responsible for the tragedy.
CM Yogi said that whether this is an accident or a conspiracy, the government will get to the bottom of it and will give appropriate punishment to the people responsible.
He also hit out at parties doing politics on the incident and said instead of expressing condolences to the victims on such a tragedy, it is unfortunate and condemnable that some are doing politics over it.
Yogi Adityanath is likely to visit Hathras on Wednesday in the wake of the tragic incident, a senior government official said.
The official said the UP chief minister is taking stock of the situation round the clock. UP Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh and DGP Prashant Kumar have been directed to reach the spot.
A team consisting of ADG Agra and Aligarh Divisional Commissioner has been constituted to enquire into the cause of the incident. The report is to be submitted within 24 hours, the UP government said in a statement.
The statement also said the chief minister is holding a meeting with senior officials at his residence. Adityanath is in constant touch with three ministers, the chief secretary and the DGP, and sent them to the spot, it said.
In the biggest such tragedies in recent years, devotees suffocated to death and their bodies piled atop each other in the stampede that took place at a 'satsang' in the district's Phulrai village.
UP chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh put the death toll at 116. Baring seven children and a man, the dead are all women. Singh said 72 have been identified so far. Victims, dead or unconscious, were brought to the Sikandara Rau Trauma Centre in trucks and ‘tempos’. The bodies lay scattered outside this Hathras health centre as people milled around them.