'Bhole Baba': Ex Cop-Turned-Preacher At Centre Of UP Stampede Horror
NDTV
Originally Suraj Pal Singh, he later changed his name to Narayan Sakar Hari or "Bhole Baba".
Spiritual leader Bhole Baba, former police constable-turned-preacher, is missing since his latest sermon ended in a stampede that killed 121 of his followers on Tuesday evening in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras.
A police report says more than 250,000 people attended Tuesday's satsang or prayer meeting at Hathras, some 200 kilometre from national capital Delhi, despite permission being given for only 80,000.
Originally Suraj Pal Singh, he later changed his name to Narayan Sakar Hari or "Bhole Baba". The preacher is a native of Kasganj village, close to the Hathras area where the stampede took place. He was a police constable in Agra for nearly a decade before he resigned in the 1990s and turned to spirituality and started giving public sermons about leading a pious life.
