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“After the stampede, all those who organised (the event) fled the spot,” Uttar Pradesh Police Director General Shalab Mathur told reporters.
The preacher’s lawyer AP Singh said he will also represent the six people arrested.
“The police are doing their job, but the people they are arresting are the family members of the stampede victims,” Singh said. “The people who actually caused the stampede have fled.”
Initial police reports said the stampede occurred Tuesday afternoon as attendees were leaving the venue via the highway where the event was being held.
Officials said several people ran towards the pastor’s vehicle but were stopped by his aides, sparking a commotion in which some of them fell to the ground and were trampled.
Others who tried to run to an open field to escape the stampede also slipped on the uneven ground where the crowd passed and were unable to stand up.
Officials said Thursday that the dead included 112 women and seven children, all of whom have been identified and their bodies handed over to their families.
In India, accidents such as stampedes are not uncommon at religious events and places where crowds gather, and most of them are blamed on poor crowd management.
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