Two priests killed in UP’s Bulandshahr

Village head Dinesh Kumar said the police’s version is unreliable as the bodies bore cut wounds, which appeared to have been inflicted by some sharp-edged weapon.

Two priests of a Shiva temple in Bulandshahr’s Pagauna village were found murdered on Tuesday morning.

The incident comes more than a week after two sadhus and their driver were lynched by a mob outside Gadhchinchale village, 110 kilometre from Palghar in Maharashtra. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Hours later, the police said it had arrested a youth in connection with the case.

“We have arrested Murari aka Raju, a Dalit man, on charges of killing two priests. The accused is a habitual drug (bhang) addict. He has confessed to his crime and described the killing as “Bhagwan ki Ichchha” (wish of God),” said Atul Kumar Chaube, circle officer of Anoopshahar police area. “The accused had no enmity with the sadhus but a few villagers claimed he had an altercation with them over a chimta (tongs) which was stolen a day before.”

The bodies of Jagdish aka Rangidas, 55, and his disciple Sher Singh, 46, have been sent for the postmortem. “A wooden staff was used in the killing and no cut wounds were found on bodies. The accused has confessed that he used a wooden staff to kill the sadhus,” said Bulandshahr district magistrate Ravindra Kumar. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has sought a detailed report from senior officials .

The incident comes more than a week after two sadhus and their driver were lynched by a mob outside Gadhchinchale village, 110 kilometre from Palghar in Maharashtra. They were attacked on the suspicion of being child-lifters.

The opposition leaders attacked the ruling BJP over the incident. Congress general secretary in charge of UP, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said the case should not politicised. Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray spoke to Yogi, expressing his concern.