Amid the speculations that West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee will contest from a second constituency as she faces tough challenge in Nandigram, Trinamool Congress has denied any such possibility. The clarification from the party came after PM Narendra Modi had raised the possibility at an election rally in the state today.
“The question of CM fighting from any second seat doesn’t arise. She is winning Nandigram comfortably,” said sources in TMC, according to reports. The party claimed that they will win 90% of the votes in the seat, which is a traditional stronghold of BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari, a former TMC minister.
TMC dismissed the speculations after PM Modi had raised the issue today. Addressing a rally in Uluberia in West Bengal, PM Modi had said, ”Didi, is there any truth in the rumour that you are going to file nomination from another constituency? First, you went to Nandigram, and the people gave you an answer. If you go somewhere else, the people of Bengal are ready.”
Didi, are you going to fill nomination on another seat?
First you went to Nandigram, and the people gave you an answer!
Wherever you go, the people of Bengal are ready to give you the right answer.
Speculations of Mamata Banerjee filing nomination from a second ‘safe’ is going around since several weeks now, after she had decided to contest against Suvendu Adhiklari in Nandigram instead of her seat Bhabanipur. Earlier it had been speculated that she may contest from Tollygunge constituency. But Tollygunge goes to poll in the 4th phase on 10th April, and the last date for submitting nomination from there was 23rd March.
Polling for Mamata Banerjee’s own seat Bhabanipur is scheduled in the seventh phase on 26th April, and the last date of filing nomination is 7th April. It means, the CM has still time to contest from Bhabanipur, if she decides to do so. Former TMC MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay is contesting from Bhabanipur on Trinamool ticket, who was chosen by Mamata Banerjee personally.
Two people were arrested today in connection to an incident where a condom was found in a temple’s Hundi (Donation box) in Manguluru. The temple belonged to the local Manguluru deity Lord Koragajja who is seen as an avatar for Lord Shiva. The arrested have been identified as Raheem (32) and Taufiq (35) from Jokatte area in Mangalore.
Chiru Bhat, a local journalist, has chronicled the incident in the form of a Twitter thread.
Don’t miss this story. Recently few peacefuls urinated inside temple & had put condom in the Hundi Box of Mangaluru’s local deity Swami #Koragajja Koragajja is also seen as avatar of Lord Shiva. Incident happened not in one Temple, but in many. People lodged complaint too. 1/n pic.twitter.com/vZKAEwWgVo
— Chiru Bhat | ಚಿರು ಭಟ್ (@mechirubhat) April 1, 2021
Addressing a press meet, police commissioner N Shashi Kumar said that in the last three months, five cases have been registered at Ullal, Kadri, and Pandeshwar police stations over miscreants dropping objectionable items into the offering boxes of temples, including a condom at the Koragajja Katte temple. However, the police were not able to track down the culprits behind the desecration of the temples.
But suddenly after some time, the duo Raheem and Taufiq started going to the temple in order to pray for forgiveness from the priests. Initially, the priests thought the duo was making fun, but finally, they confessed their heinous crime at the temple and surrendered themselves to the people there who later turned them over to the police.
The reason why both Raheem and Taufiq were so scared that they went back to the temple to confess, was because the third and the main culprit, Nawaz, who had put the condom in the Hundi box in the first place, had died under mysterious circumstances. Soon after his crime, Nawaz started acting insane, which then turned into blood vomiting and dysentery. Finally, Nawaz died by banging his own head on a wall, his last words being that Lord Koragajja is angry with the culprits.
After the death of Nawaz, Taufiq also started suffering from similar symptoms like vomiting blood. This scared them so badly that they decided that they will be saved only if they confesses and seeks forgiveness for their crime.
But, no. They were serious. Because main guy Nawaz who had put condom in Hundi box started acting insane initially & soon that turned to blood vomit + dysentery and finally he died by banging his head to wall in his house. While dying he even told, Koragajja is angry on us. 3/n pic.twitter.com/2idnvIQ8pA
— Chiru Bhat | ಚಿರು ಭಟ್ (@mechirubhat) April 1, 2021
“Accused Raheem and Taufiq were in touch with the priest of a Koragajja Katte located at Yemmekere ground to confess their mistake. They were called during the ‘Nemotsava’ where they confessed about involving in the heinous act,” the police commissioner added.
“One more accused named Nawaz, who is the common friend of the other two accused, had come back from Dubai one and half years ago. In the last couple of months, he suffered severe health issues and passed away. Recently, the devotees carried out a walkathon from Kadri temple to Kutthar Koragajja Katte. Later, Taufiq also faced severe health issues like Nawaz. Out of fear, they decided to confess. Raheem and Taufiq used to accompany Nawaz to the Koragajja Katte to drop objectionable items in the offering box,” the police commissioner clarified.
“The objective behind the act is not yet known. We are probing it. As per the primary investigation, they have committed the act in three places. The modus operandi looks similar. We need to verify the handwritten content as well. Both the accused voluntarily contacted the priest to confess,” the police commissioner said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted several raids at both the homes and offices of multiple lawyers and activists in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The raids began on Wednesday night, totalling at least 22 persons whose premises were searched. The raids were conducted over alleged Maoist ties.
In Hyderabad, the NIA in conjunction with local police teams raided the houses of Telangana High Court advocate V Rathunath, and Dappu Ramesh, a former member of Jana Nitya Mandali.
In Andhra Pradesh, multiple raids in connection with alleged Maoist links were conducted on many individuals. These include V S Krishna, the AP and Telangana Coordination Committee member of Human Rights Forum; Chilika Chandrasekhar, general secretary of Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee; Varalakshmi of Virasam and Revolutionary Writers Association; APCLC president C Babu; advocates K Padma and K Challam; G Pinakapani of Revolutionary Writers’ Association; and Somasekhar Sarma, president of Rayalaseema Vidyavanthula Vedika.
The premises of members and activists with Revolutionary Writers’ Association, Civil Liberties Committee (CLC), Amaraveerula Bandhumitrula Sangham (Association of Friends and Relatives of Martyrs), Praja Kala Mandali (People’s Art Front), Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP), Chaitanya Mahila Sangham (CMS), Patriotic Democratic Movement (PDM) were also raided.
OpIndia has previously reported on the Maoist ties of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) and the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP).
Maoist links of APCLC and Chilika Chandrasekhar
The APCLC has a history of its members being arrested. Two of its activists were arrested in December 2004 by the Warangal Police after they were allegedly found moving with armed Maoists. In 2009, an APCLC activist was arrested on charges of assisting Maoists in the murder of ZP vice-chairman Samida Ravishankar in 2007.
In 2012, Andhra Police arrested 2 APCLC activists along with 18 members of Chetna Natya Manch (CNM), a Maoist cultural outfit. The Police claimed that members of the CNM had arrived at Hyderabad from Khammam on the invitation of the APCLC members to create awareness among people against the encounter of civilians by anti-Maoist forces.
In 2003, Andhra Pradesh Police had arrested three APCLC activists in connection with an attack on Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu including the outfit’s Chittoor district president Hari Prasad, a move that was condemned by an organization it is associated with, Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR).
In 2014, the Police in Hyderabad stopped Pratyamnaya Rajakeeya Vedika (Forum for Political Alternative) from holding a meeting, asserting that it’s a frontal organisation of a banned Maoist Party. Varavara Rao, one of the leaders of the forum, was among the 50 leaders and activists who were arrested by the Police. As per the High Commissioner of Police, the High Court had denied permission to the forum to hold the meeting. Chilaka Chandrashekar, the General Secretary of APCLC, and other members of the organization were also detained as per the statement released by the members of various organizations working under CDRO. As per reports, according to Intelligence agencies, Varavara Rao, which the APCLC appears to have links with, attended the funeral of a Maoist killed in Gadrichholi in 2017 and also attended a meeting to commemorate the first death anniversary of slain Maoist commander Kapuka Prabhakar.
Maoist/Bhima Koregaon violence links of Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP)
Another organization that is intricately linked with the investigation by Pune Police into the violence at Bhima Koregaon and the alleged assassination plot to murder Prime Minister Modi is the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP).
Vernon Gonsalves, another activist raided by the Pune Police, is an executive member of the CRPP. Rona Wilson, one of those arrested in June, is the public relations secretary of the CRPP. The President of CRPP is SAR Geelani, a man who was booked for sedition in 2016 and is a vocal proponent of an independent Kashmir.
Amusingly enough, the Congress party which has come out in vigorous support of those raided by the Pune Police had branded the CRPP a Maoist front organization itself in 2011. An Advocate, Balla Ravindranath, a secretary of CRPP was arrested at Telangana and charged by the Chhattisgarh Police under Sections 8(1), 8(2), 8(3) and 8(5) of the draconian Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005 (CSPSA) after he was handed over to them.
On March 5, the NIA took over the Munchingput case filed by Andhra Pradesh Police against nearly 80 people under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). In November 2020, police raided a local journalist, P. Naganna, seized Maoist literature from him, filed an FIR, and started an investigation.
Based on the alleged confession of P. Nagnna, around 80 people with Maoist links have been named and identified.
The newly created Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will soon have a grand temple of Lord Sri Venkateswara. The government of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday approved the proposal to allot the required area of land to build a replica of the famous Tirupati temple near Jammu.
The Administrative Council (AC), which is headed by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, met and approved the proposal to allocate 496 kanals of land on lease for 40 years to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) for building a temple and allied infrastructure, an official spokesman was quoted as saying.
The TTD, which manages the affairs of the Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirupati, is also planning to set up a Vedapathasala, spiritual/meditation centre, residential quarters and medical and educational facilities in the area.
The land will be given on lease for a period of 40 years. Confirming the news, the official spokesperson of TTD stated that the TTD is an independent trust established by the government under the TTD Act, 1932 and is globally reputed for its contribution to cultural, charitable and spiritual work.
The spokesperson added that the arrival of TTD in J and K will not only boost the tourism potential of the UT due to pilgrims, but also will enhance economies in the area.
In February this year, the administration of Jammu and Kashmir had agreed to allocate land to TTD near the Jammu-Katra highway for constructing a temple of Sri Venkateswara Swamy. TTD will be constructing a temple along with a Vedic school and hospital in a minimum span of two years.
Besides Jammu and Kashmir, TTD has also planned to build grand temples of Lord Venkateswara, on the lines of the famous Tirupathi temple, in the sacred city of Varanasi and Mumbai.
Construction of temples in Chennai, Vishakhapatnam, and Bhuvaneshwar is underway. The TTD has constructed Sri Venkateswara Swamy temples in Hyderabad, Kurukshetra, and Kanyakumari which are functional and attract impressive pilgrim populations.
All eyes are on the Nandigram Assembly seat, where TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee’s fierce battle with the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari is underway in the second phase of the eight-phase West Bengal assembly election today. The contest has become a battle of prestige for both the ruling TMC and BJP which is eyeing to write history by denying Mamata a third stint. While the people of Nandigram have been busy exercising their franchise, a lot has happened in the constituency on the polling day.
Earlier in the day, the convoy of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari was attacked allegedly by Trinamool Congress workers in Nandigram. Videos emerged showing unidentified men pelting stones on Adhikari’s car. The windshield of his vehicle was damaged. Adhikari, however, escaped unhurt.
In a separate incident reported from Mamata’s constituency on Thursday, the supporters of the Bhartiya Janata Party and the Trinamool Congress party clashed with each other after Mamata Banerjee reached a polling booth at Gokul Nagar in Nandigram. Hundreds of people came out shouting ‘Jai Shree Ram’ after Banerjee reached the booth in Nandigram. They were protesting the presence of Banerjee near the polling booth in Gokul Nagar. They demanded that the West Bengal CM should leave.
Mamata speaks to the governor
Mamata Banerjee, for whom the Nandigram contest has become more of a battle of prestige, accused ‘goons from other states’ for the poll violence in Nandigram. She also called Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar to complain against the violence urging him to control the situation in the state.
#WATCH: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee speaks to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar over the phone at a polling booth in Nandigram. She says, “…They didn’t allow the local people to cast their vote. From morning I am campaigning…Now I am appealing to you, please see…” pic.twitter.com/mjsNQx38BB
In a video shared by ANI, the TMC supremo speaks to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar over the phone at a polling booth in Nandigram. She says, “…They didn’t allow the local people to cast their vote. From morning I am campaigning…Now I am appealing to you, please see…”
Speaking to the media, the West Bengal CM said that she has complained to the Election Commission and the Home Minister about the ill-treatment being meted out at her and woman journalists at rallies by “BJP goondas”. Accusing EC of working at the behest of HM Amit Shah, Mamata Banerjee said “I have seen so many elections but have not seen such a badly conducted election so far”.
Locals complain that TMC goons are not allowing them to vote
Meanwhile, Hindi news channel ABP News has shared a video where locals in the Gokul Nagar area in Nandigram were seen creating a ruckus after Mamata Banerjee reached the polling booth.
A local lady, while speaking to ABP News, alleged that the Muslims, whom Mamata Banerjee has brought from outside, are not allowing the local Bengalis to cast their votes. “Eta amader Bangali para, Muslim naye” (this is our Bengali area, does not belong to Muslims), an old lady is heard telling the journalist.
बड़ी ख़बर-नंदीग्राम में गौकुलनगर इलाक़े में ममता बैनर्जी पोलिंग बूथ के भीतर बैठ गयी हैं, इसके बाद गाँव में हंगामा होने लगा, मतदाताओं ने आरोप लगाया कि इलाक़े के मुस्लिम, हिंदुओं को वोट नहीं करने दे रहे हैं, गोकुल नगर इलाक़े में ही नंदीग्राम आंदोलन के समय किसानो पर गोली चली थी. pic.twitter.com/xkdgc58bG0
— Vikas Bhadauria (ABP News) (@vikasbha) April 1, 2021
Another woman standing beside the old lady alleges that the TMC goons held the latter captive while she went to feed the cows and did not allow her to vote.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in entire Nandigram Assembly constituency. The poll body has deployed 22 companies of central armed police force in the constituency, which has a total of 355 polling booths.
A senior official of the poll body told the media that Nandigram is a sensitive constituency with high profile candidates like Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari. The prohibitory orders will be valid till April 2 midnight.
On the concluding day of the Budget session in Gujarat state assembly, Gujarat Congress MLA Imran Khedawala tore a copy of anti forced religious conversion bill. The Congress MLA justified his act claiming that this is just another political gimmick by the Bhartiya Janata Party and should not be accepted.
After Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the Gujarat government tabled a Bill to amend the ‘Dharma Swatantrya’ (Freedom of Religion) Act, 2003. The amendment bill seeks to prohibit and punish religious conversions by impersonation or promising a better lifestyle. To expand the scope of the law, forceful conversion of a young woman would invite a jail term of five years and Rs 2 lakh penalty. In the case of a minor girl, the punishment would go up to seven years in jail and Rs 3 lakh penalty.
Imran Khedawala claimed that he was prompted to tear the Bill as it targets only one community by using a word like ‘jihad’. While speaking on the provisions of the Bill, Khedawala said, “Home Minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja has only mentioned that the daughters of the Hindu community are targeted by men from a specific community. Daughters, be it from any religious community, will always be our daughters.
Imran Khedawala in a media interaction later claimed that while he opposes the Bill, he does not support forceful conversion after marriage or marriage by deceit. He added that the punishment for the same should be more than what was stated in the Bill. He went on to the extent of demanding Saudi’s Sharia-like punishment for the crime.
BJP Gujarat MLA, Pradipsinh Jadeja has demanded strict action against Imran Khedawala for the aggression shown in the assembly.
The anti-forced religious conversion law seeks to curb the menace of rising cases of forced religious conversion, especially the one where Muslim men pretend to be Hindu or hide their religious identity to get into relationship with Hindu women under pretext of marriage. You could read more about such cases here.
The Bengal elections are probably the most hotly contested Assembly Elections in recent times. On the one hand, we have the defender and reigning champion – Mamata Banerjee and on the other, we have the formiddable popularity of PM Modi, Amit Shah, the BJP’s organisational strength and a wave in the favour of Hindutva.
Mamata Banerjee has been jittery for a while about losing power in these elections. The fear, the sheer fear was evident much before the elections were even announced. Mamata getting irked at the innocent chants of Jai Shree Ram, her unbridled Muslim appeasement, her using the state machinery to persecute those who do not agree with her and her terribly bitter rants against PM Modi coupled with her silence over the riots in Bengal were all an indication.
But regardless of her several drawbacks, Mamata Banerjee has always been a fighter. A woman who stood tall to fight for what she believed was hers. But something changed this election cycle. From a fierce fighter, she turned into a victim that needed to be protected. Why did that happen? Did she lose her fire or was it a strategy?
Prashant Kishor, Mamata Banerjee’s election strategist this election cycle has the answer for us.
Election strategist Prashant Kishor has revealed that there was a strategic reason behind changing Mamata Banerjee’s image from ‘Didi’ to ‘Beti’. Speaking in the Idea Exchange event by the Indian Express, Kishor said that when someone is referred to as ‘didi’, people tend to look for a ‘provider’ or the ‘protector’ in that person.
People believed “she is the almighty, she will take care of everything… so they were being defensive”. I have projected her as the ‘beti’. “you need to stand with her..she is under attack, and hence the slogan “Bangla nijer meye-kei chaye” (Bengal wants its daughter)”, said the election strategist.
To counter the resurgent BJP in West Bengal, the incumbent Trinamool Congress party, under the guidance of poll strategist Prashant Kishor, seems to have changed its poll strategy, repositioning the state’s ‘Didi’ (elder sister) to the ‘Meye/beti’ (daughter) of the state. The Trinamool Congress recently launched a new election slogan in West Bengal: “Bangla nijer meye-kei chaye”, literally meaning: Bengal wants its own daughter.
And with that, the shift in the narrative becomes clear. The fighter ‘didi’ became the daughter that Bengal needs to be protected from ‘outsiders’. The aim was rather simple – get sympathy and that sympathy would translate to votes. While Mamata has been at the forefront of the most aggressive form of politics marred with violence by her party goons, the strategy of Prashant Kishor to whitewash that image of someone who hardly values the lives of Hindus was to turn her into the victim herself.
The fact that Prashant Kishor’s strategy was to project Mamata as someone who needs to be protected by the people of Bengal, is the evidence of why the Nandigram drama was crafted.
Mamata Banerjee’ Nandigram farce
Last month, Banerjee had alleged that she was attacked by four-five men who pushed her, and banged on the door of her car, causing injuries to her. She had claimed that there were no police personnel around her at the time of the incident, claiming it was part of a planned conspiracy.
She and her party members had claimed that the attack was carried out to keep her out of the election campaign.
Eyewitnesses, however, completely trashed Mamata’s claims of being ‘pushed’ by some people. They claimed that the entire account given by Mamata Banerjee was false and that it was an accident. They also said that she was surrounded by police protection at that moment, denying the claim by the CM that there was no police protection around her at the time of the incident.
Why Prashant Kishor craftily repositioned Mamata Banerjee from ‘didi’ to ‘beti’
Though this farce by Mamata Banerjee was soon busted, the aim of the party was to clearly use the opportunity to project the chief minister as a victim here. It sought to make the voters feel that the ‘daughter of Bengal’ is under threat in her own state. It attempted to evoke the voter’s sympathy for the ‘beti’ of the state.
Basically, when someone is called ‘didi’, it gives off an impression of an elder sibling who’ll look after you, raise you, guide you, protect you and take you forward. But the ‘beti’ identity evokes a completely different feeling and that is exactly what Prashant Kishor has attempted to do.
He seeks to make Bengal voters feel that Mamata Banerjee is the daughter of Bengal, their own daughter, and thus they need to protect her and look after her. Basically, the poll strategist has played TMC’s strongest card- Mamata Banerjee and craftily repositioned her from ‘didi’ to ‘beti’, all in a bid to garner the voter’s sympathy in order to win the high-pitched poll battle in West Bengal.
A bank employee was found campaigning for Left Democratic Front (LDF) while postal ballots were collected from voters for the ongoing assembly elections in Kerala. In the course of postal ballot voting in Kerala for absentee voters, a video featuring the bank employee distributing welfare pension to a woman whilst polling officers were at her house has gone viral and raised a storm. This video is from the Alappuzha district of Kerala. In the video, the bank employee, after handing over the pension money to the woman, tells her that her pension will increase if the LDF government came back to power.
After the controversial video went viral, the District Collector of Alappuzha, A Alexander, suspended the bank employee from his job on Wednesday as part of an investigation.
The bank employee has been identified as Subhash CS, a collection agent with the Kayamkulam Village Service Cooperative Bank. In the video, he can be seen counting and handing over the currency notes to the senior citizen woman, in full view of the polling officers, including a policeman, who’d come to the woman’s house for postal voting.
As the bank employee attempted to induce the old woman into voting for LDF in lieu of a higher pension, the family of the women intervened, saying, “Amma is not a fool.” However, there was no intervention from either the polling officers or the policeman.
After the video went viral, workers of the UDF took huge issue with it and filed a complaint to the District Collector. On Wednesday night, the collection agent was suspended due to a violation of rules.
“The action was taken based on the report filed by the Returning Officer. There was a complaint that there had been a violation of the code of procedures in place during the election,” the Alappuzha district administration said.
In view of the coronavirus pandemic, the Election Commission has arranged for voting through postal ballots for senior citizens above 80 years of age, Persons with Disabilities (PWD/Differently Abled), persons employed in essential services such as employees of state transport, railways, aviation etc and COVID-19 positive/suspects in quarantine.
Peshawar High Court (PHC) in Pakistan today for the second time lifted the ban on Chinese video sharing app TikTok. Peshawar High Court asked Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to let the Chinese app operate in Pakistan on condition that it does not allow ‘immoral’ content on the platform.
PHC Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan has asked PTA director general about the action taken to remove the ‘immoral content’ from TikTok. PTA has reportedly taken up the matter with the TikTok management and the company has also hired a local person on the issue. Justice Qaiser also cautioned that if the police take action against those who upload such ‘immoral content’, then they will stop doing so.
This was the second time TikTok was banned in Pakistan. In October 2020, the PTA had blocked the Chinese-owned video-sharing app after the company “failed to fully comply” with its instructions for “development of an effective mechanism for proactive moderation of unlawful online content”.
Pesh HC has suspended the operation of single bench judgement,ban on @TikTok_Paki has been lifted,my submission is lets be very careful while taking decisions that may effect Economic future of Pak,we need a framework to encourage int companies so to make Pak their investment hub
Pakistan Minister Chaudhary Fawad Hussain tweeted that Pakistan should be careful while taking decisions that may affect economic future of the country. He claimed that Pakistan needs framework to encourage international companies to ‘make Pakistan the investment hub’.
Hours after this decision, Pakistan government decided to revoke the decision to lift self-imposed ban on import from India.
Last night, thieves and miscreants broke into the sacred Mausi Maa temple in Puri and stole almost Rs. 4,000 in cash, along with other valuables. As per reports, the thieves broke the locks of the donation box and took with the cash and other valuables. The Mausi Maa temple is located just 500 meters away from the Jagannath Temple and is crucial for rituals during the Ratha Yatra.
Locals have expressed anger and disappointment over the lack of adequate security measures at the temple.
“Several organisations have been complaining that CCTVs in the city are lying defunct. The Mausi Maa temple is deeply associated with the traditions of Jagannath temple. There has been a significant rise in the number of crimes and illegal narcotics trade in the town. The theft inside the temple is no less than a challenge for the cops,” said the local resident.
Gold, silver ornaments safe, only donation box looted: Puri SP
However, the Puri SP, Kanwar Vishal Singh said, “The robbers stole ₹4000 from the donation box. The initial report of ornaments and sarees being stolen from the temple is not true. We are investigating the incident.”
“We have detained some suspects and they are now being interrogated,” the Puri SP added.
The Chief Priest of the Mausi Maa temple did not know how much cash exactly the thieves took away, but he made it clear that the miscreants did not leave a single coin in the donation box.
“We averted huge losses as the looters were not able to rob the valuable gold and silver ornaments of the presiding deity. I generally remove them from the Goddess’ body before leaving for home every night so it’s a big relief,” the priest said.
The Mausi Maa temple is dedicated to Goddess Mausima, revered among the Odia people as Lord Jagannath’s ‘Mausi’ or aunt. Mausi Maa temple plays an important role during the Jagannath Puri Yath Ratra. On the day of Bahuda Jatra, the chariot of Lord Jagannath stops in front of Mausi Maa temple and here Lord Jagannath accepts ‘Poda Pitha’, his favourite rice cake from his aunt, Goddess Mausima.
