temple priest

The priest told the police that the assailants claimed the village head was with them and that they would expel Hindus from the village. He further stated that the Hindu residents, already a small minority in the village, are living in fear following the incident.

He was previously arrested in 2017 for extorting money from a doctor and also twice in 2018 for unlawfully harvesting wood.

J Sai Deepak argued against the secularisation of non-secular activities such as appointments of priests in Hindu temples.

The accused Jitendra Singh is said to be the mastermind of the incident. He stays in Guntur city of Andhra Pradesh and had planned to murder the priest and his wife over a property issue.

Ram Janaki temple priest beheaded in Bettiah in Bihar, head kept at Kali temple around 2 km away

The locals believe the priest might have identified the thieves after which he was brutally murdered.

The deceased, Gobind Das, was a resident of Uttarakhand and had been a priest at Baba Mohanram temple for over three decades.