Priest in UP’s Gonda village shot at over land dispute; four booked, two held

Samrat Das, the head priest of Ram Janki temple spread over 30 acres in Tirre Manorama village, suffered a bullet injury in his shoulder and was undergoing treatment at a Lucknow hospital, said police. His condition is said to be stable.

“A dispute over the temple land has been going on between the victim and a few local residents. We are identifying the accused,” said Superintendent of Police, Gonda, Shailesh Kumar Pandey.

Police said that before the attack, a clash had taken place between the two groups, and following intervention of a few locals, the matter was resolved.

Station House Officer, Itiyathok police station, Sandeep Singh said they were alerted about the attack on Sunday morning. A police team rushed to the temple and sent an injured Das to a district hospital from where he was referred to the trauma center of King George’s Medical University (KGMU) in Lucknow. Das has been working as the head priest of the temple for the last three years.

Policemen have been deployed at the temple to maintain peace.

Villagers expressed anguish over the incident that happened despite deployment of two home guards for security of the temple.

(With PTI inputs)