PURI: Even as police have failed to arrest the servitor of Loknath temple, who attacked Bol Bom devotee Balaram Patra on Monday, they nabbed 10 devotees including Patra on attempt to murder charges on Tuesday.The devotees were produced in the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate court which remanded them in judicial custody after refusing them bail. Police highhandedness and inaction in nabbing the accused servitor has been flayed by intelligentsia.
The temple witnessed a huge rush of devotees on Monday. When one of them, Balaram Patra of Balasore, was about to pour water on the Shiva Linga, a servitor inside the sanctum sanctorum demanded `100 from him. Since Patra had bought a trust board ticket that allows him to perform the ritual inside the temple, he refused to pay heed to the servitor’s demand. This led to an altercation between the devotee and the servitor and the latter hit Patra with a metal pot on his head. Patra fell unconscious.
Other devotees urged the police personnel present at the spot to take action against the servitor. When police did not nab the servitor, the Bol Bom devotees sat on a dharna for several hours in front of the police aid post in the temple.As senior police officials of the aid post refused to take any action, the angry devotees threw coconuts at them and ransacked the aid post.Police retaliated with lathi charge and drove all the devotees out of the temple premises.