Priest bludgeoned to death by unidentified robbers

Rajkot: A 60-year-old temple priest was bludgeoned to death by unidentified robbers on the premises of Ashapura Mataji temple in Ghumali village of Bhanwad taluka in Devbhoomi Dwarka district on Thursday evening.
The deceased, identified as Hasmukh Pandit, was attacked while he was performing the rituals of the evening arti on Thursday.

“The assailants’ intention to kill Pandit was robbery as they looted silver canopies, silver crown, silver garland and silver jewellery adorning the idol of the deity, and the cellphone belonging to Pandit, all worth Rs 16,600,” said V M Jhala, sub-inspector of Devbhoomi Dwarka local crime branch.

The accused also stole the hard disc of the CCTV camera installed on the temple premises.

At the time of the crime, Pandit had played arti which was supposed to go on for 10 minutes. However, when it went on over an hour, the roadside vendors, who sell sacred items meant for different rituals, became suspicious and went to check inside the temple, where in the sanctum sanctorum they found Pandit lying in a pool of blood with the plate for arti in his hand.

“We are questioning the roadside vendors whether they had seen the accused fleeing from the spot. We are also searching whether there are any CCTV cameras installed elsewhere in the village to get the clue about the accused,” added Jhala.