Two Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) constables were allegedly attacked with a sharp-edged weapon by a man at the south gate of Gorakhnath temple in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur district.
If reports are to be believed, the man has been identified as Murtaza who is an IIT Graduate was trying to forcibly enter the temple.
According to NDTV, Murtaza is a resident of Gorakhpur and studied at the IIT (Indian Institute of Technology)-Bombay, said the police. He graduated in 2015.
While there are many videos of the incident circulating on social media, the engineer is seen waving what appears to be a dagger and shouting just outside the Gorakhnath temple, the headquarters of the Gorakhnath mutt, of which Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is head priest.
The incident took place outside the temple gate at 7 pm on Sunday.
"A laptop and a phone were recovered from him. A ticket was also found. Investigations are on," said Akhil Kumar, Additional Director General of Police, Gorakhpur.
According to police, the accused tried to forcibly enter the temple premises after raising the religious slogan of "Allahu Akbar".
"Two of our PAC constables were injured after the accused tried to enter the temple with a sharp-edged weapon. He went to a PAC post near the gate and tried to attack the police," Additional Director General (ADG), Gorakhpur Zone, Akhil Kumar, said.
The accused, who was also injured in the attack, was held by the constables, he added.
The police official said the injured constables -- Gopal Kumar Gaur and Anil Paswan -- were given first aid at Guru Gorakhnath hospital and are undergoing treatment at the BRD Medical college.
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh is not ruling out the terror angle to the incident and has decided to hand over the probe to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
Notably, Gorakhnath is one of the most high profile temples of UP because of the Chief Minister's association. Yogi Adityanath has also represented Gorakhpur in parliament and recently won his first state election from the Gorakhpur Urban constituency.
(with agency inputs)
