Devotees, priests lock horns in Gadhda Swaminarayan temple

Rajkot: A bitter fight has erupted between group of devotees and the priests of old Swaminayaran temple in Gadhda with cross-complaints being lodged with the local police.
A video of priest Maulik Bhagat Guru Satyaprakash Dasji seen kicking a devotee identified as Vishnu Ahir after a heated argument has gone viral on the social media groups. The root cause of the animosity is the priests insisting on Ahir vacating the beverages shop of the temple that he has been operating for several years.

According to sources, the incident occurred on October 20 at around 9:15 pm. Ahit has lodged a complaint against Maulik Bhagat and Kothari Swami Ghanshyamdasji alleging that the duo had thrashed him with stick and smashed a pipe on his head. “Before two months, the two priests saw lot of customers at my shop and warned me that there shouldn’t be so many people gathering there. I told them that it was obvious that people would gather there to have cold drinks. They want me the vacate the shop,” Ahir told Gadhda police in his complaint.

The temple priests have also move the court to get the shop vacated and the case is pending in the local court.

Meanwhile, priest Maulik Bhagat also lodged a complaint against Ahir, Uday Ahir, Sanjay Ahir and an unidentified person alleging that they had beaten him with pipes and wooden bats. He had to take four stitches on the head due to injuries, it is alleged. Ahir allegedly threatened Ghanshyamdas ji to take back the legal case.

Police have deployed bandobast around the temple to thwart any untoward incident.