JAIPUR: In a shocking incident, a 50-year-old temple priest was set on fire with petrol by six people in Rajasthan’s Karauli, after he resisted an attempt by them to encroach upon land that belonged to the temple authorities, police said on Friday.
The priest succumbed to the burn injuries on Thursday evening in SMS hospital. According to Karauli SP Mridul Kachhawa, police have arrested the key accused within 24 hours of the crime reported in Bukna village.
The priest, Babulal Vaishnav, in his statement said he and his family were looking after a Radha Krsihna temple in the village and the surrounding land allotted on the temple’s name was being used by them for farming.
On Thursday, at around 10 a.m., accused Kailash came along with a few people and started putting up tin sheds on the land. When Vaishnav resisted, they sprinkled petrol on him and set him ablaze.
Looking at the gravity of the crime, the SP has constituted teams and initiated the probe to trace the criminals. While the main accused has been arrested, hunt is on to nab other accused in the case, said police officials. The priest’s nephew in his FIR said that six people were engaged in the crime who sprinkled petrol on the priest after they finished levelling the land.
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in her statement said that this is a highly condemnable crime. Looking at the rising crime incidents, it is clear that Dalit, women, traders, kids, no one is safe in the state.
The state government needs to wake up from slumber and give the harshest of the punishment to the accused in this case, she added
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