CHANDIGARH: Unidentified attackers killed a priest and a sewadar, and chopped off the tongues of three others at a temple at Manglaur village near the Haryana-Uttar Pradesh border.
The crime scene is 500 metres from a police post. Vinod and Sultan, the priest and the sewadar, were found stabbed to death at the temple complex in Karnal district, the police said. Sultan was from Uttar Pradesh while Vinod hailed from Kaithal, Haryana.
Harjinder, Ravinder Sharma and Ajay Sharma were found mutilated nearby, the police said, adding that Harjinder was employed at the temple. A police team recovered liquor bottles, condoms and some other objectionable material from the temple complex.
Sources said that the incident came to light when some children and a family reached at the temple in the morning. The door of the temple was locked from outside. It was when they heard wailing from inside the locked complex that they found something amiss.
After the lock was broke open, the locals were aghast on seeing all the five men tied up and profusely bleeding. Two of them had already died by then. The donation box of the temple was broken. The local police then arrived at the crime spot and sealed the temple complex.