JAIPUR: A 70-year-old caretaker Giriraj Singh of Rakeshwar Mahadev Temple Azad Nagar Colony was murdered by the unidentified persons on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. His body was found by the deceased son tied with a chair and a cloth stuffed in his mouth inside his room in the temple complex on January 26 morning. Police has registered a case of murder against the unidentified persons and is yet to arrest anyone in connection with the act till the last report came.
The incident came to light after the devotees found the temple locked from inside and the caretaker who is living from the past 12 years is not responding to their calls on Republic Day morning. They informed the deceased’s son Rajendra who came and jumped the wall to get into the temple complex to see his father’s body in the room. Rajendra who lives less than 500 metre away from the temple complex has visited his father last on January 25 evening to give him dinner.
Police is probing the case from two angles—a planned murder or an act happened while burglary attempt. “Prima facie, it appears that suspects barged inside the temple with an intention of stealing. Singh might have woken up due the suspects’ presence and due to fear of him screaming, they tied his hands and foot with a rope and stuffed yellow paper in his mouth. Secondly, it could be planned murder since nothing is missing from the spot,” said SHO Sodala police station Satpal Singh.
The post-mortem report says that death due to asphyxiation and no mark of strangulation was found. “The autopsy report indicates that Singh was left alive by the suspects and he died due to lack of breath,” said Singh, who has launched a massive manhunt to nab he accused. The police have detained few persons and called several others for the investigation. “We have round some persons who are involved in sale of drugs in the area also keeping an eye on all the CCTV to get some clues about the murderer,” said Singh.
Report says that locals have expressed their anger on the incident and demanded the police to arrest the accused as soon as possible.