The police entered the ashram premises of religious preacher Jagat Guru Saakar Vishwahari Bhole Baba in Mainpuri, UP, and later said he was not present there. A police official said they had gone there to check security arrangements.
Asphyxia due to compression was the leading cause of death among the victims of the Hathras stampede who were brought to the district hospital in neighbouring Etah on Tuesday, a senior doctor said.
He said retired administration and police officials will also be part of the judicial inquiry to probe the stampede.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday suspended the local SDM, a circle officer and four others based on the SIT report on the Hathras stampede that did not rule out a "big conspiracy" behind the incident.
'Karur could still impact Jana Nayagan's box-office success if Vijay and the TVK do not get their act together,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The SIT, constituted on September 30, was initially given seven days time ending on Wednesday to submit its report.
The rape charge could not be proved against the prime accused, his lawyer Munna Singh Pundir said.
Lawyer Seema Kushwaha, who is representing the Dalit woman's family, said on Thursday that they will challenge the verdict in the high court.
The victims were part of the crowd of thousands that had gathered near Phulrai village in the Sikandrarau area for the 'satsang' by religious preacher Bhole Baba.
Balrampur Superintendent of Police Dev Ranjan Verma, quoting the victim's family, said the woman, who worked with a private firm, returned home in a serious condition on Tuesday. The girl looked dazed and had an intravascular cannula, medically known as Vigo and used for administering injection or other fluids in the body, inserted in her hands. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, but died on the way, said the SP.
'Among Dalits, the Valmikis were the biggest voters of the BJP.' 'They now feel Yogiji has failed them in Hathras.'
Besides Vikrant Vir, the other suspended policemen are Circle Officer Ramshabd, Inspector Dinesh Kumar Verma, Sub-Inspector Jagveer Singh and Head Constable Mahesh Pal, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said.
A team of the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the case, has been questioning the family members of the accused in the alleged gang-rape of a woman who died last month.
On the basis of SIT's first report, UP CM has already suspended the Hathras SP, DSP and some other police officers.
Justice Ananda Sen said that the shocking incident has prompted the court to say that "Hathras (like places) is not only in the state of Uttar Pradesh, but also is in the state of Jharkhand." The court cannot keep its eyes shut and ignore this type of "lacklustre and shoddy" probe, he said.
Her immovable assets are worth over Rs 7.74 crore, which includes two inherited half shares of agricultural land in Mehrauli area of New Delhi and a half share in a farmhouse building located therein, all of which together are now worth over Rs 2.10 crore.
'The male members of the victim family will be questioned today in Hathras, they will go to a temporary office set up by the CBI in Hathras. Female members will be questioned at home by CBI officials'
Calling for attention to cases of sexual violence against women and girls in India, UN Resident Coordinator in India Renata Dessallien said the alleged rape and murder in Hathras and Balrampur are a reminder that those from disadvantaged social groups are at greater risk of gender-based violence.
The police and district administration are working on an elaborate plan in this regard as to how many family members will go and when they will depart from Hathras.
"Doctors have already made it clear that the Hathras woman was not raped," Pal, the UP minister of state for Electronics and Information Technology said in a statement which is set to further aggravate the controversy.
Maharashtra based Dalit rights activist Chetan Janardhan Kamble said he was constrained to file the PIL after some glaring facts were revealed regarding "the state support for manipulating and destroying evidence in the Hathras gang-rape and murder case.
The court will record the version of the victim's family members in the case.
Raut said he hadn't seen a social media campaign demanding justice for the victim.
Talking to reporters while walking on the Yamuna Expressway towards Hathras, she said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would have to take the responsibility for the alleged gang rape of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in the district and strict action should be taken against the perpetrators of the crime.
The girl was shifted to Delhi's Safdarjung hospital after her condition deteriorated and she died on Monday.
Bharti, who has been admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences-Rishikesh after testing positive for COVID-19, said had she been fine she would have herself visited the family in Hathras district, and added she will definitely visit the family after getting discharged from the hospital.
The woman was gang-raped on September 14 following which she was admitted to the AMU's Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital in Aligarh.
A joint delegation of the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Communist Party of India on Tuesday met the family members of the Dalit woman who was allegedly gangraped and killed in Hathras, and demanded an independent judicial enquiry into the matter.
Meanwhile, a boy who claimed to be a relative of the deceased woman, alleged their family's phones have been confiscated and their outdoor movements confined.
The ED may soon register a money laundering case to probe if dubious funds were used for allegedly fuelling caste-based protests in the wake of the alleged gang-rape and death of a Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras, officials said.
The chief minister pointed out that prompt action had been taken by the Punjab Police and the accused had been caught without delay, unlike in the Hathras incident. "That was why Rahul Gandhi had to rush to Hathras, to secure justice for the victim's family, and did not need to visit Hoshiarpur," he said.
The FIR lodged at Chandpa police station in Hathras district against 'unknown persons' mentioned alleged attempts to foment cast conflict, promoting enmity between groups and tarnish the image of the government and invoked section 124A of the Indian Penal Code -- the serious charge of sedition.
Addressing a prayer meeting in memory of the Dalit rape victim, she said her party will continue to exert pressure on the government till justice is delivered in the case.
The brother of the 19-year-old Dalit woman told reporters on Saturday that the family wanted to shift to the national capital and continue their fight for justice there.
Self-styled godman Bhole Baba said Wednesday that he is very disturbed by the Hathras stampede but nobody can avoid what is destined and everyone has to die one day.
'We are under pressure from officials and confined to our home while the media has also been disallowed from meeting us'
Her body was cremated in the early hours of Wednesday, with her family alleging the local police forced them to conduct the last rites in the dead of the night.
"Unlike in UP, the governments of Punjab and Rajasthan are not denying that the girl was raped, threatening her family and blocking the course of justice. If they do, I will go there to fight for justice," he tweeted.
Amid country-wide outrage over the incident, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had on Wednesday formed a three-member SIT which was instructed to submit its report by October 14, according to officials.
In the letter, the main accused, Sandeep, has also stated that he was friends with the alleged gang rape victim, due to which her mother and brother had thrashed the 19-year-old Dalit woman, leading to serious injuries that resulted in her death.