New Delhi | A 35-year-old 'sevadaar' in southeast Delhi's Kalkaji temple was allegedly beaten to death in public after an argument took a violent turn, the police said on Saturday, adding that three arrests had been made.
According to officials, a call was made to the police control room about the row at the temple around 9.30 pm on Friday.
While Atul Pandey (30), a resident of Dakshinpuri and native of Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, was caught on the spot by the locals and handed over to the police, two other accused, identified as Mohan alias Bhura (19) and Kuldeep Bidhuri (20), both residents of Tughlaqabad, have been arrested on Saturday.
Mohan and Kuldeep are cousins, officials noted.
The argument broke out after the accused, who were visiting the temple, demanded 'chunni prasad', a combination of a sacred headscarf and a religious offering of food from the 'sevadaar', Yogendra Singh, a native of Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh.
The altercation turned violent as the group allegedly dealt fist blows to Singh and beat him up with sticks, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Hemant Tiwari said.
Singh, who had been serving at the Kalkaji temple for almost 15 years, was rushed to the AIIMS Trauma Centre, where he succumbed to his injuries during treatment, an officer said.
Officials noted that the CCTV footage of the incident captures men brutally attacking the deceased with sticks in full public view.
"The incident took place around 9 pm. It is truly heartbreaking. The temple committee and the pujari community demand justice and want the accused arrested at the earliest." Siddharth Bhardwaj, General Secretary of the Kalkaji temple, told PTI.
He highlighted that the initial information suggested that the accused men were creating a nuisance and not following the temple rules. They had also asked for 'prasad', which Yogendra couldn't give because it was over.
"Yogendra must have asked them to adhere to the rules, which angered them and led to this heinous act. The sevadars here have been serving the temple for generations, tying the sacred thread for devotees," Bhardwaj said.
"His post-mortem is underway. His family is devastated, and so are we. The nature of the brutal attack has shocked everyone. Strict action must be taken so that no such crime is repeated ever against temple sevadars," he added.
Recalling the incident, Raju, another sevadaar at the temple, said, "he was sitting in his dharamshala when 10 to 15 men dragged him outside and beat him to death. He had been serving here for the last 10 to 15 years. All the prasad offered in the temple is distributed among devotees. When these men asked him for prasad, there was none left, so he had to refuse them." He further alleged that the attackers took advantage of the fact that other sevadars had gone inside to perform pooja. "Finding him alone, they pounced on him and beat him to death," Raju claimed.
Earlier, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal took to X and said, "Did these miscreants not even flinch before brutally killing a sewadar inside the Kalkaji Temple? If this is not a failure of law and order, then what is? The four engines of the BJP have brought Delhi to such a state that now even temples are witnessing such incidents. Is anyone really safe in Delhi anymore?".
A case has been registered at the Kalkaji Police Station under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Sections 103(1) (murder) and 3(5) (joint liability), DCP Tiwari said.
Meanwhile, efforts are underway to identify and nab the remaining accused in the murder of Yogendra Singh.
