BHUBANESWAR: A 25-year-old man, said to be a non-Hindu, was arrested on Thursday for forcibly trying to enter the Jagannath Temple in Puri the previous day.
As per temple norms, non-Hindus are not allowed to enter the shrine. The incident took place around 8:30pm on Wednesday, hours after West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who is on a three-day visit to the state, offered prayers at the 12th century shrine.
"We arrested him on charges of flouting the temple’s norms and hurting religious sentiments. His intention of forcibly entering the temple is being investigated. We have seized his mobile phone for verification," a senior police officer said.
The accused was identified as Rahman Khan, a resident of Murshidabad in West Bengal. According to the police, he tried to climb atop the temple’s dome in an attempt to kill himself. However, when asked could not give a satisfactory reply when police asked him about the motive behind his plan to commit suicide. The state police are verifying his antecedents with the help of their counterpart in Bengal. Khan’s family has also been apprised of the incident.
The temple authorities had temporarily closed the facility for darshan of the deities since an important ritual was to take place. Challenging the security personnel, Khan ran inside the temple through its southern gate and as the police officials ran after him, he started climbing the dome near the Beheran Dwar.
"Our personnel eventually caught hold of him and just as he was being evicted, he started hurling abuses at us," the police officer added. He was taken to Singhadwar police station later that night and detained for questioning.
"His conduct towards our staff was unpleasant. We do not think he was mentally unstable. He was aware of the temple’s ban on the entry of non-Hindus and yet he forcibly entered the premises,” the police officer added.
