BJP MPs Booked For 'Forcibly' Entering Baidyanath Temple's Inner Chamber In Ranchi

The FIR was lodged under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita as per a complaint by temple priest for “forcibly entering the inner shrine on August 2 between 8.45 pm and 9 pm” despite a restriction on VIP or VVIP entries.

An FIR has been lodged against BJP MPs Manoj Tiwari, Nishikant Dubey, Kanshikanat Dubey, Sheshadri Dubey, and others for entering the inner shrine of the temple in Ranchi.

Source : PTI

Ranchi, Aug 8 (PTI) The Jharkhand Police on Friday said it has registered an FIR against BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey, Manoj Tiwari and others for “forcibly” entering the sanctum sanctorum of the Baba Baidyanath Temple in Deoghar on August 2 and hurting religious sentiments.

The FIR was lodged under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita as per a complaint by temple priest Kartik Nath Thakur for “forcibly entering the inner shrine on August 2 between 8.45 pm and 9 pm” despite a restriction on VIP or VVIP entries during the holy month of ‘Shravan’ in view of a large number of devotees.

"An FIR has been lodged at Baba Baidyanath Mandir Police Station against Nishikant Dubey, Manoj Tiwari, Kanshikanat Dubey, Sheshadri Dubey and others for entering the inner shrine of the temple, hurting religious tradition and sentiments and causing obstacles in government work by entering into a scuffle with police persons deployed for security reasons," an officer told PTI.

The “forcible entry” by the MPs and “scuffle” with policemen resulted in causing fear among thousands of devotees present and a stampede-like situation, as per the complaint.

Thakur said he had lodged the FIR on August 7.

While both the MPs did not respond to phone calls, Nishikant Dubey in a post on X said: "This case has been registered for worshipping... So far 51 cases have been registered against me. Tomorrow, I will go straight to the police station from Deoghar airport for my arrest." During the month of ‘Shravan’, thousands of devotees known as ‘Kanwariyas’ embark on a 105-km pilgrimage from Sultanganj in Bihar to Deoghar, Jharkhand, to offer holy Ganga water at the Baba Baidyanath Dham Temple, one of the 12 ‘Jyotirlingas’.

About 55 lakh ‘Kanwariyas’ have offered holy water at the temple during the ongoing month-long ‘Shravan Mela’ so far.

Additionally, about two lakh devotees offered obeisance through 'Shighra Darshanam' (fast track) facility.

The shrine registered an income of around Rs 7.5 crore between July 11 and August 5, which includes revenue from other temple sources. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)