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Uttarakhand: An officials said that a priest and a ‘sevadar’ were allegedly beaten to death with sticks at the Baba Bharmal temple near Khatima in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand, in which police on Sunday arrested three people, they added.
The accused have been identified as Kalicharan, a former ‘sevadar’, Rampal, an ‘Aghori’ baba, and Pawan, a history-sheeter from Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh. Senior Superintendent of Police Manjunath TC said that temple priest Baba Harigiri Maharaj and ‘sevadar’ Rupa were beaten to death with sticks on the intervening night of January 4 and January 5.
He also said that some cash and other items were also taken from the spot. The police said that the interrogation of the accused revealed that Kalicharan and Rampal had come to a ‘bhandara’ (community kitchen) organised at the temple. After eating at the ‘bhandara’, both of them stayed on the temple premises.
Police said that at night, both of them were consuming liquor due to which Baba Harigiri scolded them and the duo left. Later, they conspired to kill the priest and also involved Pawan in the plan, the police said. They attacked the priest first on the day of the incident.
Police further said that the day of the incident, the priest was attacked first. They added that Rupa, who rushed to protect him, got killed in the attack and Nanhe, another ‘sevadar’ got injured, they added. The police recovered Rs 4,700 in cash, a mobile and an internet dongle stolen from the priest.
During the investigation, The SSP said that they had to face a major challenge as there were no CCTV cameras at the spot and the second ‘sevadar’ who sustained injuries could not give any substantial information. Police interrogated more than 1,200 people and searched over 1,000 cameras during the investigation, the officer said, announcing a reward of Rs 2,500 for the police team.
