A court in Noida on Saturday sent Devprakash Madhukar, the key accused in the Hathras stampede incident, to 14-day judicial custody. The chief judicial magistrate court also sent Sanju Yadav, another accused in the case, to jail for the same duration.
"Devprakash Madhukar and Sanju Yadav were produced before the judicial magistrate's court today and both were sent in judicial remand for 14 days," Assistant Prosecution Officer Uma Shankar Yadav said.
Madhukar was arrested from Delhi’s Najafgarh area by a Special Operations Group of Hathras police on Friday evening. He is believed to be the key fundraiser for the events of self-styled godman Surajpal alias Narayan Sakar Hari alias Bhole Baba.
According to police Madhukar was the ‘mukhya sevadar’ (chief volunteer) of the ‘satsang’ where 121 people lost their lives in the stampede on July 2.
During the hearing on Saturday, Madhukar told the court that he had got permission from the SDM for a gathering of 80,000 people. He also said that he had not done any publicity of the event.
According to reports, more than two lakh people had gathered for the religious congregation addressed by Bhole Baba.
Hathras Superintendent of Police Nipun Agarwal said the investigation team is examining the financial transactions of Madhukar and the money trails. Police are also examining his call details.
"Madhukar was the main organiser of the satsang programme in Fulrai village on July 2 and the permission for this programme was taken by him. Thus, two roles of Madhukar have come to light -- the main organiser and fundraiser," Agarwal was quoted as saying by PTI.
Madhukar was absconding after the incident and the UP Police had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for providing information about him.
