Chandigarh: A mob beat a man to death following an alleged sacrilege attempt at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Saturday, according to police. The unfortunate incident has sparked tensions over a highly sensitive issue in the build-up to the Punjab Assembly elections.
Witnesses said that the man jumped over the sanctum sanctorum’s railing inside the Golden Temple when the daily evening prayer was underway. He tried to grab the sword kept in front of the Sikh’s holy book, Guru Granth Sahib.
The cops confirmed the man was killed following the incident. They were checking all CCTV cameras to find out where the man had come from, when he entered the Golden Temple and how many people were with him.
“This evening during prayers, a man jumped the fence and entered the enclosed area. The congregation was offering prayers and bowing down,” Deputy Commissioner of Police of Amritsar, Parminder Singh Bhandal, was quoted as saying by NDTV.
“The man, about 20 to 25 years of age who had a yellow cloth tied on his head jumped the fence… the people inside held him and escorted him out to the corridor where there was a violent altercation and he died,” Bhandal said.
“He was alone. All details will be revealed as there are a lot of CCTV cameras in the area and our teams are alert, sifting through footage. Postmortem will be done tomorrow. We will verify where he was from,” Bhandal added.
However, news agency PTI quoted Bhandal as saying that the man hailed from Uttar Pradesh.
I strongly condemn this attempt of sacrilege inside of Darbar Sahib, Amritsar today evening.
The person has been caught, but it is alarming how such an incident can take place inside the premises of Darbar Sahib.#darbarsahib #goldentemple #amritsar pic.twitter.com/BoD4lo5d6S— Avtar Singh Hit (@avtarsinghhit) December 18, 2021
