Vandalism In Puri: Police To Act Against Violent Protesters

Puri: With normalcy restored in Puri a day after violent protests, the police on Thursday said that action would be taken against those involved in the ransacking government properties.

Talking to the media here, IG (Central Range) Soumendra Priyadarshi said that normalcy returned at 4 pm after the district administration had a meeting with a 5-member Shanti (peace) committee in which it was decided that the local devotees would be allowed into the temple through the north, south and the west gate on showing identity card or Aadhaar card.

He, however, said that action would be taken against those involved in the violence.

“We are examining the CCTV footage to identify the protesters who had ransacked the assets of the office of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), damaged the household articles of the local MLA and pelted the SP’s official residence with stones. Once identified, appropriate action would be taken against them,” he added.

Meanwhile, Director General of Police (DGP) R P Sharma arrived at the Jagannath Temple on Wednesday with IG (Law and Order) Amitabh Thakur and discussed the incident with Priyadarshi.

On the other hand, the amicus curiae Gopal Subramaniam, appointed by the Supreme Court to submit a report on the reforms measures implemented in the temple, has sought a report from the chief secretary on the violence in Puri over the issue of the ‘dhadi darshan’ (queue system).