NE NEWS SERVICE
BHARUCH, OCT 28
Three women died after being run over by an unidentified vehicle near a temple on a state highway passing through Jhagadia taluka of Bharuch district on Wednesday morning, police said.
Following the accident, angry locals thrashed the priest of Gumandev temple after discovering that the CCTV cameras outside the premises, which could have helped identify the vehicle, were not functioning, an official said.
The accident took place on the road that connects Ankleshwar town of Bharuch with Rajpipla town of Narmada district.
An unidentified vehicle mowed down three women who had come from Uchedia village to sell vegetables near the temple, said inspector P H Vasava of Jhagadia police station.
The victims have been identified as Tara Vasava, Jasiben Patel, and Rekha Patel, the official said.
Angry villagers gathered on the road demanding the arrest of the driver, who is at large, said Bharuch superintendent of police Rajendrasinh Chudasama.
Later, the mob asked the priest to check the temple’s CCTV footage, as they claimed that the cameras installed outside the temple may have captured the vehicle and its registration number.
“The priest and vegetable vendors have been at loggerheads over the issue of selling vegetables near the temple. When he told the villagers that the CCTVs were not working, the mob thrashed him after a heated altercation,” Chudasama said, adding that the matter is under probe.
In a video of the incident, the priest can be seen being manhandled by the mob, which included women, and paraded on the road in torn clothes.
