Temple row turns fatal, sevadar beaten to death

A 35-year-old 'sevadar' in southeast Delhi's Kalkaji temple was allegedly beaten to death in public after an argument took a violent turn, the police said on Saturday, adding that three arrests had been made.

- OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI:

While Atul Pandey (30), a resident of Dakshinpuri and native of Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, was caught on the spot by the locals and handed over to the police, two other accused, identified as Mohan alias Bhura (19) and Kuldeep Bidhuri (20), both residents of Tughlaqabad, have been arrested on Saturday.

Mohan and Kuldeep are cousins, officials noted.

According to officials, a call was made to the police control room about the row at the temple around 9.30 pm on Friday.

The argument broke out after the accused, who were visiting the temple, demanded 'chunni prasad', a combination of a sacred headscarf and a religious offering of food from the 'sevadar', Yogendra Singh, a native of Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh.

The altercation turned violent as the group allegedly dealt fist blows to Singh and beat him up with sticks, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Hemant Tiwari said.