According to report, the dead body of the priest was discovered at rooftop of temple and it is likely that he woke up when thieves were stealing the valuables and when he tried to apprehend them, they ruthlessly attacked him with knives, sticks and crushed his head with stone, facebook page, Documenting Crimes Against Hindus has reported.

Mehndar Hanumangarhi, Siwan, Bihar: One more incident of violence against temple priest has come to fore while thieves decamped with 11 idols from the temple. 80 year old priest Janak Das did not survive the assault with knife & blunt objects.

According to report, the dead body of the priest was discovered at rooftop of temple and it is likely that he woke up when thieves were stealing the valuables and when he tried to apprehend them, they ruthlessly attacked him with knives, sticks and crushed his head with stone. The villagers are furious over the brutal crime and demanded swift action in this matter.

The killings of temple priests is not something new in India. In august 2018, 2 priests were brutally killed by members of “chhah maar” gang in Karnal. These ‘all Muslim’ gangs specialise in targetting Hindu temples. Their modus operandi is very low profile. They dont carry weapons on them but pickup sticks and stones from crime site and brutally assault the priests or anyone present there. They leave neither witness nor evidence and simply melt away in the crowd in morning. In another case in 2015, when police arrested chhah maar gang members Usman, Sakir & Aamir,

it was disclosed by gang members that a ‘chhah maar’ gang member can get engaged only after killing 3 people while he can get married only after killing 6 people. They seem to enjoy violence in commission of crime.

Even though, it is yet to be confirmed that Siwan incident was carried out by chhahmaar gang, the modus operandi points its finger towards similar gang.

Image Source: Documenting Crimes Against Hindus