Puri: Police took an elderly man into custody after he climbed atop dadhi nauti (dome) of Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s pilgrim town of Puri on Wednesday night
The man has been identified as Balaram Moharana of Chhatrapur.
Puri SP Pinak Mishra said that the elderly man had climbed to the Nilachkra of the shrine. “A team from Singhadwar Police Station and firefighters soon reached the spot. The help of Chuna Garuda Sevaks, who conduct the flag ritual, was also sought to bring the man down safely. But he himself climbed down. He will be questioned,” he said.
Sources said that the elderly man entered the temple premises through ‘Paschima Dwara’. People on the shrine premises panicked on seeing his atop the shrine. It is being said that he had been visiting the temple for the last 2-3 days and watching how Chuna Garuda Sevaks climbed the Dadhinauti.
The man later told the media that he had got an order from the Lord in his dream to touch ‘Patinapabana Bana’.
Some reports claimed that the seventy-year-old was mentally unstable and undergoing treatment at a hospital in Berhampur for the last 10 years. He has two sons and two daughters.