Cop ‘misbehaves’ with priest at Jagannath temple, suspended

The police in Odisha’s Puri district on Wednesday suspended a woman constable after she allegedly misbehaved with the rajguru (head priest) of Nepal at the Jagannath Temple.

The police in Odisha’s Puri district on Wednesday suspended a woman constable after she allegedly misbehaved with the rajguru (head priest) of Nepal at the Jagannath Temple.

The incident comes less than a week after an Italian-born Odissi dancer was assaulted during a function at the temple here.

In his complaint, the rajguru said the constable guarding the gate of the temple, about 60 km east of Bhubaneswar, barred him from entering and shouted at him on Tuesday.

“She (the constable) was placed under suspension pending inquiry on the basis of rajguru Madhav Bhattarai,” Puri city deputy superintendent of police SB Satpathy said.

Locals however said the incident occurred following a misunderstanding arising out of language problem.

On July 20, Italian-born Ileana Citaristi was allegedly beaten up by temple servitors in an incident that caused widespread outrage.