Two priests of two different religious mutts in Patna have been murdered in the past four days, turning the spotlight both on the affairs inside those secluded organisations sitting on huge landed property and the alleged scheming for grabbing their land.
The bloodstained body of Shyamnandan Singh, 70, a priest of the Ramjanaki Thakurbari Mutt at Bihta near Patna, was recovered inside the mutt premises on Monday afternoon. Police had recovered the decomposed body of Tarun Das, 45, a priest of the Udasi Mutt Hanuman Temple at Digha near Patna just four days back on Thursday. The Ramjanaki Thakurbari Mutt’s head Ram Lakhan Dasji Maharaj was also killed by unidentified criminals a few years ago.
The recovery of an iron rod bearing blood stains near the body of Singh lying on a cot in the mutt’s courtyard has made the police suspect that the priest was beaten to death. His body was sent for an autopsy and a probe is on. In the Das murder case, police have already arrested a senior priest of the Udasi Mutt Hanuman Temple, Guru Heera Das, who confessed to have beaten up his disciple to death over a dispute for the monthly fee of Rs 7,000 for worshipping the deities.
Both these mutts have considerable land at their disposal near the Bihar capital, much of which is getting increasingly urbanised, and robust sums of money collected as donations from near and far, said police officials.
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Gyaneswari night run to resume soon
Age Correspondent
New Delhi, Nov. 1
More than a year after the alleged Maoist attack on the Howrah-Mumbai Gyaneswari Express, which derailed in West Midnapore district of West Bengal, the Railways is planning to resume the night service of trains on two sectors suspended after the mishap.
A decision to resume the night train services along the Naxal belt will be taken after an extensive threat assessment is completed by the Union home ministry and security agencies.
“There is a popular demand to resume these services. A security assessment has to be made before a final decision is taken,” a government official said. With railway property being high on the list of ‘’economic targets’’’ of the CPI (Maoist), the government has decided to increase day and night patrolling along railway tracks passing through the Naxal belts, particularly along inter-state borders of West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh.
So far, 23 Maoist attacks have taken place on railway property across the country till October 15. In 2010, 45 attacks took place on railway property alone.
Security officials do not rule out efforts by Maoists to sabotage railway tracks to cause maximum damage.