New Delhi:
A man was beaten to death by a mob at Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, after he alleged attempted sacrilege inside the sanctum sanctorum of the holy shrine on Saturday evening.
As per reports, around 5:45 pm when the Rehras path (routine evening prayer) was underway, the man jumped over the metal fencing around the place and entered into the restricted area where ‘parkash’ of Sri Guru Granth Sahib is placed. He then picked the golden sword or Kirpan, a Sikh religious symbol, which is usually kept in front of the ‘Saroop’ of Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
For the unversed, Sri Guru Granth Sahib is the holy book of the Sikhs.
The man was immediately nabbed by security personnel present at the Gurudwara and was taken to a room situated within the premises. He was interrogated by the members of Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee. The man was beaten to death by angry devotees who were present at the religious place.
The Police confirmed that the man was beaten to death. A report by
ToI
said that his body was not handed over to the cops and was lying in the Civil Hospital. The identity of the person is not known yet as there was no documentation on him.
The entire incident went live on television as the prayers are broadcast everyday on a channel.
A report by
News18
said the accused youth was reportedly a resident of Uttar Pradesh.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Amritsar, Parminder Singh Bhandal, said the man (accused) aged about 20 to 25 had a yellow cloth tied on his head jumped the fence after which people who were inside immediately held him and escorted him out to the corridor where there was a violent altercation and he died.
Bhandal further said that the man was alone and more details would be revealed once all the CCTV cameras installed inside are being checked. Postmortem will be done tomorrow (Sunday).
Former Chief Minister of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh condemned the incident and asked the government to find out the reason behind the man attempting to do such an act.
Shironami Akali Dal leader Prakash Singh Badal tweeted, “The heinous attempt to commit sacrilege at Sachkhand Sri Harmandar Sahib, is deeply shocking and exceedingly painful! The crime is too reprehensible for words and it has caused ‘deep anguish and outrage in minds of Sikh masses all over the world.”
He added, “It’s unbelievable that such a painful and brazen crime is committed at ‘the holiest shrine of humanity’ by a single individual. The possibility of deep-rooted conspiracy cannot be ruled out! This needs to be probed, exposed and culprits be given an exemplary punishment.”
Notably, it was the second such incident in the Golden Temple in the last two days. On Wednesday, the SGPC employees handed over one Ranbir Singh for allegedly throwing holy gutka (a handbook of Gurbani) into the sarovar (holy tank) of the Golden Temple.
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