Sikandra Rao, Hathras: In the narrow alley of Sokhna village in Sikandra Rao, two children are playing. One of them is wearing an oval-shaped locket with a picture of Bhole Baba’s wife strung on a yellow thread around his neck.
Bhole Baba’s sevaks raised money by selling merchandise to his followers and collecting donations from them as fundraising for future events, while a political party, police suspect, may have been funding the events, too.
Though the sevaks have raised thousands of rupees, the followers maintain the baba’s high-mindedness — ‘he never directly asked for donations’.
Bhole Baba came under the spotlight on 2 July after a stampede at his satsung in Hathras led to the deaths of 121 people, mostly women.
On Monday, police arrested two more people in the case — Durgesh Kumar Saxena and Dalbeer Singh — identified as volunteers at the satsang. So far, 11 people, including primary suspect Devprakash Madhukar, who raised funds for the baba’s events, have been arrested.
In Sikandra Rao, the baba’s followers are seen wearing lockets and carrying yellow pens while the walls of their houses have posters with the baba’s face — all bought from the satsangs and ashrams of the baba.
“Every satsang of the baba has many such stalls from where devotees buy these items. This satsang (where the stampede happened) also had similar stalls,” says Vinod Kumar, a resident of Sokhna village, Hathras.
Kumar lost his wife, daughter, and mother in the Hathras stampede. His mother often attended the baba’s satsangs and bought merchandise. Last time, she had brought home five lockets, four pens, and a large poster, says Kumar. He adds that the lockets were priced at Rs 10, pens at Rs 20, small posters at Rs 50, and the largest posters at Rs 100.
While the sevaks ran the stalls and raised the funds, Bhole Baba refrained from directly asking for money, strengthening people’s trust in him.
“Bhole Baba never took any money. People didn’t even offer him things or goods. He didn’t ask for a single rupee from anyone. Everyone worshipped him out of faith and devotion. He healed people through his words,” said Savitri, a follower from Daunkeli village, Hathras.
A 20-year-old resident of Patiyali — Bhole Baba’s ancestral village in Kasganj — living 200 metres away from the baba’s ashram in the area, says the merchandise items are sold outside the ashram, and they sell the most on Tuesdays when the ashram sees heavy crowds.
“Outside the ashram, sevaks set up several shops where all the items are sold. Truckloads of the items arrive and are sold,” says the 20-year-old.
Devprakash Madhukar, the main accused in the stampede case, had recently been in contact with some political parties, the Uttar Pradesh Police has claimed.
Hathras Superintendent of Police (SP) Nipun Agarwal has said at a press conference that he suspects a political party funded Bhole Baba’s events, and the police are investigating the link.
Agarwal has said that Madhukar was a fundraiser for Bhole Baba’s events, collecting donations. His call records, financial transactions, bank accounts, and movable and immovable properties are under investigation, with the police probing into the money trails.
The initial investigation indicates political involvement for both political and personal motives of the baba, the SP has said. The police may seek support from other agencies if necessary, he has added.
ThePrint has contacted SP Nipun Agarwal and Ankur Varma, the former Sikandra Rao sub divisional magistrate who was suspended Tuesday over the stampede, via phone but has not received any responses. The report will be updated once any is received.
‘Villagers donated their money willingly’
Vivek Thakur from Daunkeli village shares that at least 10 fundraising stalls came up in the area, approximately 11 days before the Hathras satsang that claimed 121 lives.
At least five sevaks stood at each stall — within 100 to 200 metres of one another — waiting for donations. Thakur says that villagers donated their money “willingly”.
Most of Bhole Baba’s followers have put up his picture in their homes and offer prayers to him, apart from wearing lockets with the baba’s pictures at all times, says Thakur.
“Followers believe that doing all this resolves their troubles and brings them wealth,” adds Thakur.
He says that books of the baba’s speeches are also available, recalling that he encountered three to four people selling these books on his way to a relative’s house in Hathras a few months ago. One of them stopped Thakur and offered to sell him a book, which was “quite thick”, for Rs 50.
Thakur and others claim that the baba’s followers make all these items at his Bharatpur ashram in Kasganj.
Kumar says the baba’s ashram has over 20 rooms where servants provide various services and make the merchandise items.
In Sikandra Rao’s Bhuteshwar Colony, the walls of a two-storey house belonging to a 22-year-old law student have posters of Bhole Baba and his wife Premvati.
Speaking with ThePrint, the student mentions going to the satsang venue in Hathras and donating Rs 15,000 a few days before 2 July. The student recalls seeing people, most of them women, cleaning and cooking while three sevaks were receiving donations. One of them took her money and recorded her family details.
“The people collecting money wrote down my father’s name, my grandfather’s name, their ages, occupations, and the amount donated in a large register. They also asked for my father’s picture, which I gave,” the student says. “Before us, three people had registered their names after donating up to Rs 10,000 each,” the student adds.
She says the other pages of the register also had many names.
“Given that the women followers had been working at the venue for free for 10 days, what happened to the donated money?” asks Thakur.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Also read: ‘Why leave the house? Sit at home and do path puja’ — misogyny rears its head after Hathras tragedy