AMRITSAR A group of around 10 robbers killed the priest of Baba Lal Dyal Ji Maharaj temple and decamped with ₹60,000 in cash and some jewellery on Monday night. The miscreants also injured priest’s wife and a sewadar of the temple, situated on Amritsar-Pathankot road near Gopalpura village of Majitha sub-division.
The victim has been identified as Mohan Sham Bharadwaj (55) while his wife Satyavati (50) and sewadar Gurdial Singh were injured.
Satyavati said the incident took place at around 1am when around 10 youths armed with sharp weapons and sticks barged into the temple premises and asked Mohan to hand over cash to them. “When my husband resisted, they strangled him to death. They also beat me up with sticks and I lost conscious,” Satyawati said.
Mohan’s son Gulshan Kumar, 25, who serves in an another temple nearby, found his father dead and mother unconscious at around 4:30am. Gulshan said the helper was also brutally thrashed by the miscreants.
“Before leaving the spot, the miscreants removed jewellery of my mother and stole ₹60,000. They also took away the digital video recorder (DVR) of CCTV cameras installed at the temple.”
Gulshan said that this was not the first incident. “In March, theft took place at the temple, but the police didn’t act on our complaint,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Gulshan said that this was not the first incident. “In March, theft took place at the temple, but the police didn’t act on our complaint,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Kathu Nangal SHO Mohit Kumar said Mohan and his family, who come from Mathura, had been serving in the temple for around two decades.
A case has been registered under Section 460 (all persons jointly concerned in lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night punishable where death or grievous hurt caused by one of them) of the Indian Penal Code against the unidentified accused and investigations are on, he said.