Rajasthan temple priest dies after being set on fire over land row, prime accused arrested

KARAULI: Police arrested the main accused in connection with the incident, in which a temple priest succumbed to his injuries on Thursday night after he was allegedly burnt alive by few people during a scuffle over temple land encroachment at Bukna village in Sapotra, Karauli district.

The main accused has been identified as Kailash Meena.

According to the Superintendent of Police (SP), Karauli, Mridul Kachawa, the accused was arrested within 24-hours of the incident taking place.

The priest in the FIR registered at Sapotra police station had said that he, along with his family, used to do farming on the land within the temple premises. Kailash Meena wanted to grab the land and on Thursday he had come and was building a tent on the piece of land. Upon being stopped by the priest, they burnt a portion of the tent put up in the field, in which the priest got engulfed and was burnt badly.

According to SP, Karauli several teams had been formed under the supervision of Additional SP Prakash Chand, for nabbing the accused.

Due to the prompt action, the prime accused was arrested within 24-hours while the search for the others is still underway.

Meanwhile, state's former chief minister Vasundhara Raje has condemned the incident and urged the state government to "wake up from its slumber and ensure strict punishment to the culprits."

"The incident of burning a priest alive in Karauli district's Sapotra is highly condemnable. No amount of grief is enough for this. One thing is clear from this that the way, in which Rajasthan's crime graph is increasing, no woman, child, senior citizens, Dalits, traders are safe anymore. The state's Congress government should wake up from its deep slumber and mete out strict punishment to the culprits, ensuring justice to the victim's family," Raje's tweet, translated in English from Hindi, read.