Five held for murder of Kalkaji temple ‘sevadar’ over prasad

Five men have been arrested after a 35-year-old sevadar of Delhi’s Kalkaji temple was beaten to death in full public view, apparently following an argument over prasad, on Saturday (August 30).

Police have identified the victim as Yogendra Singh, a native of Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh. Police have booked the five arrested men for murder.

The brutal incident was captured on CCTV camera. In the video, the men can be seen thrashing Singh with sticks.

One caught on the spot

News agency PTI quoted an official as saying that one of the accused, Atul Pandey (30), a resident of Dakshinpuri and a native of Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur, was caught on the spot by the locals and handed over to the police.

The other four — Mohan alias Bhura (19) and his cousin Kuldeep Bidhuri (20), both residents of Tughlaqabad, Nitin Pandey (26) and his father Anil Kumar (55) — were arrested later on Saturday.

“Anil has also been arrested on charges of harbouring the accused and aiding them to avoid detection by police,” an official said.

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Brawl over prasad

According to the officials, the police control room received a call at 9.30 pm on Friday (August 29) about a ruckus at the Kalkaji temple.

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 Singh, who had been working at the temple for almost 15 years.

As no prasad was left to offer, Singh turned them down. But they picked an argument with him.

The quarrel took a violent turn, with the accused punching and hitting Singh with sticks, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Hemant Tiwari said. Later, Singh was rushed to the AIIMS Trauma Centre, where he died during treatment.

DCP Tiwari said a case was registered at the Kalkaji police station under sections 103(1) (murder) and 3(5) (joint liability) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). He added that steps have been taken to identify and nab the remaining accused in the case.

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Temple committee demands justice

Siddharth Bhardwaj, general secretary of the Kalkaji temple, said the incident was heartbreaking and urged the government to take severe actions to end untoward incidents against sevadars.

“The incident took place around 9 pm. It is truly heartbreaking. The temple committee and the pujari community demand justice and want the accused arrested soon,” Bhardwaj told PTI.

According to preliminary information, the accused men were creating a nuisance and not following the temple rules.

“Yogendra must have asked them to adhere to the rules, which angered them and led to this heinous act. The sevadars here have been serving the temple for generations, tying the sacred thread for devotees,” Bhardwaj said.

“His post-mortem is underway. His family is devastated, and so are we. The brutal nature of this attack has shocked everyone. Strict action must be taken so that no such crime is repeated ever again against temple sevadars,” he added.

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Failure of law and order: AAP dig at BJP

Recalling the incident, another temple sevadar, Raju, said, “He (Singh) was sitting in his dharamshala when 10 to 15 men dragged him outside and beat him to death. He had been working here for the last 10 to 15 years. All the prasad offered in the temple is distributed among devotees. When these men asked him for prasad, he had to refuse as there was none left.”

Raju claimed that the attackers took advantage of the fact that other sevadars had gone inside to perform puja. “Finding him alone, they pounced on him and beat him to death,” he added.

AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal hit out at the BJP over the incident, terming it a failure of law and order.

In a post on X, Arvind Kejriwal said, “Did these miscreants not even flinch before brutally killing a sevadar inside the Kalkaji temple? If this is not a failure of law and order, then what is? The four engines of the BJP have brought Delhi to such a state that now even temples are witnessing such incidents. Is anyone really safe in Delhi anymore?”

(With inputs from agency)