Hundreds of people amid extreme humidity attended the satsang of self style preacher Narayan Sakar Vishwa Hari or Bhole Baba, the self-styled preacher.

Before he became a Bhole Baba, he was Suraj Pal Singh, a constable with the Uttar Pradesh Police.

Sources said Singh, 58, hails from a Dalit family in Bahadur Nagar village of Kasganj district, about 65 km from Hathras where the stampede occurred.

“After serving in the police force for about a decade, he left the job… His last posting was in Agra,” said a police officer who visited Singh’s village after the stampede. While the exact date is not known, Singh is reported to have left the police force some time in the 1990s.

“He is married and does not have any children. After leaving the police force, he adopted the name, Bhole Baba, while his wife is known as Matashree,” said Zaffar Ali, husband of Bahadur Nagar village pradhan, Najis Khanam. Ali said Singh’s family was well-off, and he was the second of three brothers. While his elder brother died a few years ago, his younger brother, Rakesh, a farmer, still lives in the village with his family.

“He built an ashram on his 30-bigha land in the village. People from other districts, and even states, would visit the ashram to seek his blessings; they were provided accommodation at the ashram,” Ali said as reported by IndianExpress.

According to him, Singh left the village about five years ago, suspecting a conspiracy against  him. “We heard he is now residing in Rajasthan. Last year, he returned to the village and entrusted his property to a Trust. A manager oversees the affairs of the ashram,” he said.