The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)

House of key accused locked, neighbours in ‘disbelief’ about role in organising satsang

FOR MANY residents of the New Colony in the Damadpura area of Sikandrara­u in Hathras, Devprakash Madhukar, who has been named in the stampede FIR, was just a “normal engineer” until the police arrived at his house on Tuesday night.

He was the chief organiser or 'mukhya sewadar' of the satsang where preacher Narayan Sakar Vishwa Hari alias Bhole Baba addressedt­hegatherin­gontuesday.

Madhukar has been named as the main accused along with othersewad­ars. Atthemaing­ate of his three-storey house, located in a Jatav-dominated area, a square-shaped picture of ‘Bhole Baba’ is installed at the top. The house remained locked on Wednesday. Neighbours said Madhukar’s family – his wife and two children – has left the village. The houses of his associates were also found locked in the area.

While expressing shock over the incident, Madhukar’s neighbours said they were aware of his associatio­n with the preacher but had no idea that he was associated with organising such a large congregati­on.

“Though I knew that he was associated with Narayan Sakar Vishwa Hari, but I didn't know that he was among the main Sewadars who were given the task to organise such a big congregati­on," said 54-year-old Ramdas Gautam, who runs a kirana store in New Colony.

Hathras: Out of total killed in the stampede, 113 are women. Six of the deceased are from neighbouri­ng states-- Madhya Pradesh (1), Haryana (4) and Rajasthan (1). There are 31 injured undergoing treatment in different hospitals. ”

“There are around 60%of people in the area who are the followers of that baba. They have created a network at the local level and organise and share the details of upcoming programs among their group members. They seem to me as hardened believers. They also asked me to join the group, but I declined," said Jitendra Gautam, a resident of the village. Apart from Madhukar, other organisers were Mahesh Chandra, a resident of Kheria Khurd; Anar Singh, a principal from Krishna Vihar Colony; Sanju Yadav; teachers Chandradev and Ramprakash.

The Indian Express triedtocon­tact all the organisers, but their cellphones were switched off.

The FIR against Madhukar and other unidentifi­ed sewadars has been lodged under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110, 126(2) [wrongfully restrains], 223 and 238 (causing disappeara­nce of evidence or giving false informatio­n to screen offender).