Police begins investigation on destruction of chulahs of sri Jagannath temple kitchen

Puri, April 4 : Sri Jagannath temple administration on Monday lodged a complaint at the Simhadwar police station over vandalisation of 43 chulhas inside the temple kitchen late night of Saturday. Police registered a criminal case under section 427, 295 and 295(A) of IPC and 30(A) and 4(b) of the Sri Jagannath temple act and took up investigation. K.Vishal Singh the superintendent of police said on Monday that the police has constituted a five member team comprising senior police officers to probe into the incident. The CCTV footage are being scanned to identify the miscreants. In presence of SP, collector, temple security head, ritual official and president of Suar Mahasuar nijog were present to identify the suspects while scanning of CCTV footage was done. The temple administration is also conducting a joint investigation into the issue. The temple’s own security head along with office bearers of Suar Mahasuar nijog and officials incharge of rituals are questioning various persons connected with the kitchen and were on security duty that night. Since there was no CCTV camera installed to cover the front of the kitchen it is becoming difficult to ascertain what exactly happened in the kitchen on Saturday night, sources said. Police are looking at footage of nearby locations in the temple for any suspected activities. Sources said one person has been identified from the footages and police may summon him for questioning . Earlier today in a meeting Suar Mahasuar nijog and temple managing body members had discussed the issue. The niojg had filed a written complaint on the issue with the temple administration following which temple administration filed the complaint with police. District Collector Samarth Verma who presided over the meeting told media persons that while an internal inquiry by the temple administration is going on the police are also investigating into the case. We have carried out repairs to activate a number of chullas on Sunday morning for preparation of “bhog” to prevent disruption in nitee of lord Jagannath. The superintendent of police said the culprits will be identified soon. Meanwhile, state Chief Secretary S C Mohapatra and DGP S Banshal along with senior civil and police officials visited the temple kitchen on Monday for an on the spot investigation. XC DP KK

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