Odisha cop suspended for entering Jagannath Temple during Covid-19 lockdown

Police officials said the inspector and his family spent around half an hour in the Jagannath temple and had a darshan of the deities.

A police inspector, who had barged into the Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri with his wife and daughters on Sunday evening, was suspended for defying the prohibition of entry of pilgrims into the 11th-century shrine during the lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic.

File photo of the Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha (HT File)

Deepak Jena, an inspector at the Badachana police station in Jajpur district, reached the temple with his family at around 7pm in a police vehicle with a yellow beacon.

When a plain-clothed Jena along with his family was trying to enter the temple through the temple’s southern gate they were stopped by an on-duty havildar.

However, all of them forcefully entered the temple that has been shut for the pilgrims since March 20 following Covid-19 outbreak.

Police officials said the inspector and his family spent around half an hour in the temple and had a darshan of the deities.

Singhadwar police inspector Geli Kumari Sahoo said the inspector was later detained along with the family.

“He has been booked under several sections of IPC (Indian Penal Code). We will take necessary action against him as per law,” said Sahoo.