On Tuesday, two sadhus were found murdered inside a temple at Pagona village of Bulandshahr district in Uttar Pradesh.
The murder came to light when people reached the temple on Tuesday morning and saw the blood-soaked bodies. According to reports, the deceased have been identified as Jagandas, 55, and Sevadas, 35. One person has been taken into custody and is being interrogated. Their bodies were found by the villagers inside the local Shiva temple.
A police official told news agency ANI, the two priests used to live here at the temple. One person named Murai alias Raju who is a cannabis addict and who frequently visited the temple apparently took away a 'chimta' (tong) for which he was chided by the priests. For that, he killed them using a sword. Villagers also spotted Murari going outside the village. The accused was arrested two kilometres from the village where he was found in an inebriated state.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken cognizance of the incident and directed the district officials to reach the site of crime and inform him of the investigations. He has also ordered strict action against the accused.
These murders come almost a fortnight after the Palghar lynching in Maharashtra, where two 'sadhus' and their driver, were cornered and lynched by a 200-strong mob outside Gadchinchle village on April 16 night. Police had rushed to stop it but failed.
The incident occurred on April 16 night when three men from Kandivali in Mumbai were headed towards Surat in a car to attend a funeral. Their vehicle was stopped near a village in Palghar district.
The trio were dragged out of their car and beaten to death with sticks by a mob on suspicion that they were thieves. The deceased were identified as Chikne Maharaj Kalpavrukshagiri (70), Sushilgiri Maharaj (35), and their car driver Nilesh Telgade (30).
(Inputs from Agencies)
