Maharashtra: In a tragic incident, four sadhus or religious ascetics were allegedly assaulted by a mob on suspicion of being child lifters. According to the police, the incident was reported in Sangli district on Tuesday.
A video of the incident has now gone viral on social media.
Police said sadhus did not lodge any complaint in connection with the matter.
The incident took place at Lavanga village in Jat tehsil when the four men who hail from Uttar Pradesh were heading towards the temple town of Pandharpur from Bijapur in Karnataka in a car.
They had halted at a temple in the village on Monday.
While resuming the journey on Tuesday, they asked a boy for directions, said a police official.
This led some locals to suspect that they were part of criminal gangs which abduct children.
"There was an argument. It escalated quickly and the sadhus were allegedly beaten up with sticks by the locals," the official said.
A police team reached the spot and found that the sadhus were indeed members of an `akhada' in Uttar Pradesh, he said.
Last month, a clash was reported between two groups of sadhus in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya, over the share of temple offerings.
The incident took place at Narsingh temple under Ayodhya Kotwali Police Station with a brief moment of panic when explosion-like sounds were heard.
According to the police, the fight broke out between the temple Mahant and its priest over an issue that started a couple of months ago.
"There was a dispute over the ownership and possession of the temple for the offerings and the income. We have detained both the parties involved in the clash,” Circle Officer Rajesh Tiwari said.
The CO, however, denied that any bombs exploded during the fight.
“Some high decibel crackers were burst to create terror,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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