90-year-old priest found dead at temple, help goes missing

A 90-year-old man was found dead with his head severed at a temple, where he served as a priest for the last 35 years, in Kadarpur in Sector 65 on Wednesday morning

A 90-year-old man was found dead with his head severed at a temple, where he served as a priest for the last 35 years, in Kadarpur in Sector 65 on Wednesday morning.

90-year-old priest found dead at temple, help goes missing

The deceased, Govind Das, was a native of Uttarakhand, who, villagers said, devoted his life to the temple.

Ajay Gujjar, who first spotted the priest’s body, informed police around 6.10am. “Pujariji used to sit on his bed every morning and I used to get tea for him. I never found him lying on the bed when I went to give him tea in the morning for many years. When I reached the temple on Wednesday morning, there were two villagers who were offering prayers and pujariji was still sleeping. I went to wake him up... When he did not wake up, I removed his blanket and found his head severed from his body,” he said.

Gujjar said he was lying in a pool of blood; someone had brutally murdered him and covered his body. “I raised an alarm and informed the villagers and people present at the temple. We informed the police, following which a team from Sector 65 police station reached the spot,” he said.

Deepak Kumar, station house officer of Sector 65 police station, said, “The temple is quite ancient and is popular in the area. We are suspecting the role of the priest’s assistant, who left for his village two days ago for some work. There was personal enmity between them. We will question the assistant as there was no apparent robbery attempt or signs of struggle. Everything was intact in the temple.”

Police said they are questioning people in the village and scanning CCTV footages to for check any suspected movement.

The incident sparked panic in the village. Residents of the village said the priest was not keeping well for the last few months and was mostly bed-ridden. He had no enmity with anyone and villagers were very fond of him, said police.

Kumar said they registered a case under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC at Sector 65 police station based on the statement of a villager on Wednesday morning. “We have informed his relatives and family members, who reached Gurugram on Wednesday afternoon and were handed over the body after the post-mortem,” he said.

Dr Deepak Mathur, the forensic expert who conducted the autopsy, said the priest’s head was brutally chopped with a sharp weapon. “He died due to excessive bleeding,” he said.