The priest was cremated on the evening of October 10, after protesting for more than 24 hours in the temple priest’s murder case in Karauli district of Rajasthan. The priest was cremated after the Ashok Gehlot government announced financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to the victim’s family and a government job to a member. At the same time, two officers who helped the accused were suspended.
Temple Priest Babulal Vaishnav was burnt alive when he was preventing the land mafia from encroaching on the temple land on Thursday. He was a priest in the Radha Gopal Ji temple of Bukna village in Karauli district.
It was reportedly burnt by some 6 people by pouring petrol on the priest of the temple. After this, the priest was rushed to the local hospital and was again shifted from there to Jaipur hospital, where he died.
On 9 October, several Brahmin organizations protested in front of the hospital and demanded action against the local police station in-charge and shifted the case to another circle office. Along with this, he demanded financial help to the family of the priest and gave a government job to a family.
Suresh Mishra, a Brahmin leader, said, “When a team of police officers assured to meet their demands, then family went to the body.”
The villagers later threatened that the priest would not be cremated until the demands of the family were met. Then, taking cognizance of this incident, Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra talked to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on the phone on 10 October. The Chief Minister has said that the state government has taken cognizance of the case and the police is conducting a full investigation and the accused will not be spared.
Meanwhile, on October 10, the BJP sent a three-member team of Alka Gurjar, MP Ramcharan Bohra and former BJYM leader Jitendra Meena to the village for investigation.
