Punjab Youths Climb Atop Mangu Mutt In Puri

Puri: Four turban-clad Punjabi youths created a flutter by climbing atop the Mangu Mutt here on Thursday.

They were seen branding swords and reading from the Guru Granth Sahib.

Locals alerted police after spotting them atop the Mutt in the high-security zone under the proposed Puri Heritage corridor project.

Senior officials of Puri district administration, police, Fire Services personnel soon reached the spot and held discussions with the youths from Punjab. They were later taken to the nearby police station, sources said.

The youths claimed that seven of them decided to visit Puri after seeing a video message regarding the demolition of Mangu Mutt and climbed atop to re-install a religious insignia that had fallen off.

Two MLAs from Punjab had recently staged a demonstration with some Sikh activists in Bhubaneswar, opposing the demolition of the Mutt and demanding adequate steps to preserve the place visited by Guru Nanak.

After a discussion with senior officials of Odisha government, they had later expressed satisfaction over the ongoing beautification project.