NE NEWS SERVICE
BHARUCH, OCT 29
A case of dacoity has been registered after a mob of around a hundred persons, including women, beat up a temple priest in Jhagadia tehsil in Bharuch district, the police said on Thursday.
A mob of villagers from Gumandev and Uchedia stormed a roadside temple at Gumandev on Wednesday, assaulted its priest Mahant Manmohandas, and allegedly looted cash and jewelry worth Rs 5.80 lakh.
The incident had taken place following an accident near the temple in which three local women died.
After the preliminary probe, a case of dacoity and criminal conspiracy was registered against Arun Patel, Yogesh Patel, Milan Patel, and several others, said inspector P H Vasava on Thursday.
“No one has been arrested yet,” he said.
Gumandev Temple is situated in Ankleshwar-Rajpipla town.
On Wednesday morning, three women vegetable vendors from Uchedia village were killed after being hit by an unidentified vehicle near the temple.
Following the hit-and-run accident, angry locals thrashed the priest when he told them that CCTV cameras outside the temple, which could have helped identify the vehicle, were not functioning.
The First Information Report claimed that it was a conspiracy to take control of the temple.
The priest alleged that villagers asked him to sign a document to transfer the temple premises to them.
On Wednesday, Bharuch Superintendent of Police Rajendrasinh Chudasama had said that the priest and vegetable vendors were at loggerheads over selling of vegetables near the temple.
In a video of the incident, the priest can be seen being roughed up and paraded in torn clothes.
