We were beaten up for no reason: Sadhus

Four sadhus sleeping in the open space outside the Siddhivinayak temple in Prabhadevi were allegedly beaten up by seven persons wearing masks, reports HT Correspondent.

Four sadhus sleeping in the open space outside the Siddhivinayak temple in Prabhadevi were allegedly beaten up by seven persons wearing masks.

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Police suspect the attackers are Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists. According to the police, these sadhus are regulars at the temple. They tie holy threads on the wrists of devotees and earn dakshina every Tuesday. One of the sadhus, Sunil Shastri (34), spoke to Hindustan Times about the incident:

“We are a group of 16 sadhus, staying in a room at Wadala. Every Monday night we sleep on the ground opposite the Siddhivinayak temple waiting for devotees who line up for the Tuesday morning darshan and Kakad aarti.

I am from of Madhya Pradesh and for the last six years I have been here to tie a holy thread on devotees’ wrists and earn a meagre amount of money.

Yesterday, like every Monday night, we were sleeping on the ground when around 12:30am, seven men with their faces covered with a white cloth, appeared to be standing above us with sticks in their hands. At first I thought that they were dacoits but then the men started hitting us.

I could not think but I heard those men shouting at us and telling us that we were beggars and that we should go away and never come back. After beating us, they vanished from the spot.

Hurt and bleeding, we returned to our room at Wadala. Since I was badly hurt, I went to KEM hospital and after initial treatment we went to the Dadar police station and lodged a complaint. Tying holy threads to devotees of Siddhivinayak temple is our only means of income. We have been beaten up in vain.”