Bhopal: Rudraksh Shukla, the son of BJP MLA Golu Shukla, surrendered to Madhya Pradesh Police Tuesday night in relation to the assault of a priest at a temple in Dewas last week. Rudraksh was granted bail soon after and went to the temple, where he touched the priest’s feet and apologised.
Rudraksh and at least eight others are accused of physically and verbally assaulting a priest of the Choti Chamunda Tekri temple and trying to enter the temple after it was closed in the early hours of 12 April. On Monday, Madhya Pradesh Police booked Rudraksh, along with eight others, for assaulting and threatening the priest, two days after an FIR was registered.
This comes after leaders of both the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party in the state criticised the incident. Congress leader Sajjan Singh Verma Monday went to Dewas, where he washed the priest’s feet and apologised for the incident.
There was also pushback from leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and senior BJP leaders were tasked with looking into the issue. According to BJP sources, state BJP president V.D. Sharma also pulled up Rudraksh and asked him to apologise to the priest.
Speaking to the media Tuesday, Sharma said, “All responsible will be held, irrespective of who they are.”
An FIR in the case was registered based on the complaint of temple priest Updesh Nath, who was assaulted in the incident.
In the FIR, a copy of which ThePrint has seen, Updesh alleged that the incident took place in the intervening hours between Friday night and Saturday morning after his father, Mahesh Nath, closed its doors, covered the idol according to the rules, and left for the night.
Updesh was seated at the temple’s gates when, around 12.40 am, around 40 devotees arrived, demanding the temple be opened. He identified one of them as Jitendra Raghuvanshi, an associate of Rudraksh.
“I refused, stating it’s closed as per the rules. I also put Jitendra on a call with my father Mahesh Nath, who repeated the same thing. But instead, Jitendra began hurling abuses at me, and when asked to stop, he got into a scuffle and threatened to kill me,” Updesh further said, according to the FIR.
CCTV footage allegedly from outside the temple on the day of the incident shows dozens of men emerging from several cars with red beacons parked outside the premises. ThePrint has not independently verified the video.
After the incident, Updesh, along with his father, Mahesh Nath and head priest Ashok Nath, went to the police station to register a complaint.
Speaking to ThePrint, Dewas Superintendent of Police, Puneet Gehlot, said the police recorded the priest’s complaint and analysed the footage from CCTV cameras that show the convoy crossing the city and making its way to the temple. This was also used it to verify the vehicle owners, who then named others, including Rudraksh.
He added, “The investigation is being done as per the procedure, and further course of action will also be taken based on the findings of the investigation.”
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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