Denied entry to temple from exit gate, priests manhandle policemen

VARANASI A group of priests allegedly manhandled some police personnel on duty at the exit gate of sanctum sanctorum of Maa Vindhyavasini Temple in Vindhyachal,

VARANASI A group of priests allegedly manhandled some police personnel on duty at the exit gate of sanctum sanctorum of Maa Vindhyavasini Temple in Vindhyachal, Mirzapur, on Sunday afternoon after cops denied them entry from the exit gate, police said.

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Two persons have been taken into custody in this connection, police said. Confirming the incident, SP Dr Dharmvir said, “Instructions have been given to register a case against those manhandled the cops. CCTV footage has been taken into possession and is being scanned.”

A police officer said a priest along with some devotees entered the sanctum sanctorum of the temple from the exit gate. Seeing him, other priests along with the devotees also tried to enter the temple in the same fashion.

However, the policemen on duty stopped them.

Moreover, two priests Mukesh Mishra and Bhola Tripathi, who had to do duty inside the temple, also tried to enter the temple from the exit gate. The police stopped them too. This led to an argument and alleged manhandling of the police personnel.

The police said ASP Prakash Swaroop Pandey along with a heavy police force, circle officer Sudhir Kumar and city magistrate Sushil Lal Srivastava reached the spot and controlled the situation.

Later they held a dialogue with Vindhya Panda Samaj Association president Pankaj Dwivedi and ensured normalcy inside the temple premises.