Who is Bhole Baba, the preacher at the centre of 121 stampede deaths in India?

Suraj Pal, a former police constable who claims to ‘heal’ ailments and ‘rid people of evil spirits’, has hundreds of thousands of followers across northern India

People walk around the venue of the stampede a day after it occurred on 3 July 2024 in Hathras, India (Getty)

Police in India are searching for a Hindu preacher after 121 people, mostly women and children, died in a stampede at his overcrowded prayer meeting in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh earlier this week.

Suraj Pal, reverentially known as "Bhole Baba" (the innocent religious guide) by his followers, claims to "heal" many an ailment and conducts "exorcisms to rid people of evil spirits".

His ill-fated religious event or satsang was permitted to have 80,000 people, police said, but gathered over 250,000, mostly bluecollar workers and their families.

The event was held in Hathras, about 200km southeast of New Delhi, on Tuesday.

The stampede occurred when hundreds of devotees scrambled to collect dust from the preacher's feet, which they believed could "heal all ailments".

Mr Pal fled the scene and has been untraceable since.

In a statement issued through his lawyer, AP Singh, the preacher blamed "some anti-social elements" for the crush.

Mr Singh claimed there was a “criminal conspiracy” against his client. He also denied reports that Mr Pal’s security guards sparked panic by pushing away people who tried to get his blessings.

“Totally false allegation,” the lawyer told the BBC. “Security staff always provide help to the followers.”

Relatives mourn victims of the stampede victims at Daunkeli village in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh (Reuters)

Mr Pal, 58, was born in a Dalit family in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj village. According to reports his followers are mainly from the formerly untouchable community.

He got a job as a police constable but left after 18 years in the late 1990s to follow spirituality, changed his name to Narayan Sakar Vishwa Hari, and donned the garb of a preacher.

He quickly gained popularity among the Dalits in the heartland states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Posters and videos posted on Mr Pal’s YouTube channel, which boasts millions of views, show him dressed in kurta tunics or pristine white suits and sporting ties and sunglasses, a marked contrast with the spartan appearance of most self-styled Indian godmen.

Relatives mourn victims of the Hathras stampede during a cremation ceremony at Daukeli village in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh (Getty)

Seated on an ornate throne and flanked by his wife, Mr Pal is often seen addressing huge gatherings of mostly women devotees, almost all of whom sit on the ground, hands folded in reverence.

"Humanity was the true religion, is the true religion and will always be the true religion," he is quoted as saying in a poster.

Urmila Devi, who had travelled to Tuesday's satsang from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, told The Indian Express that people were drawn to Mr Pal because, unlike most religious preachers, he didn’t ask for offerings.

“Baba does not take or ask for anything. In his satsang, he would tell us not to lie and not to consume meat, fish, egg, and alcohol,” Ms Devi said.

People walk at the scene after a stampede in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh (EPA)

In rural Uttar Pradesh, Mr Pal reportedly has about a dozen “main followers” in almost every Dalit village who keep people informed about his events and ferry them to the venues in cars and buses. His followers wear a yellow locket with his photo around their necks.

Mr Pal travels in a cavalcade of cars and mostly stays away from the media. To keep away devotees who would rush to touch his feet and seek his blessings, he has formed a personal escort of men and women guards known as Narayani Sena, NDTV reported.

Mr Pal’s claim of having “magical powers” got him arrested in Agra in 2000 after he allegedly forcibly took a young girl’s body from her family “to bring her back to life”.

He also notoriously flouted Covid guidelines by hosting thousands of people at prayer meetings in 2022. At one such event in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, he gathered more than 50,000 people despite having permission for just 50.

A series of videos posted on his YouTube channel, which has over 31,000 followers, advertised Tuesday’s gathering and exhorted devotees to attend in large numbers.

"The great Narayan Sakar Hari will manifest in person and bless devotees," one video said.

Mr Pal was scheduled to host two more gatherings near Agra city later this month. They have now been cancelled.

Police have filed a case against the organisers of the event and arrested six of them but have not named the preacher himself.

“The organisers did not follow the conditions imposed” by the authorities for the programme, Uttar Pradesh police chief Prashant Kumar said.