Video of ‘sadhu’ dragged down Tripura temple stairs goes viral, officials say he is an imposter

india

Updated: Oct 26, 2019 07:53 IST

A video of a ‘sadhu’ or an ascetic being dragged down the stairs by two men at the Tripurasundari temple in Udaipur of Tripura’s Gomati district has gone viral on social media.

However, the local administration said after a preliminary inquiry that the man who was assaulted on Thursday was not a real sadhu but an imposter.

The officer-in-charge of Radhakishorepur police station Suman Das wrote a letter to Udaipur’s sub-divisional magistrate, saying that the supposed sadhu was Shankar Chandra Naha, a resident of Fulkumari, a village 6km from Udaipur.

A day before he was dragged at the temple, Naha had attacked Sanjit Das of Fulkumari with an ‘iron trishul’ (trident), the police letter said.

It also said that a police complaint was registered against Naha in connection with the attack on Das and was later taken into custody.

“....Shankar Ch Naha was creating nuisance and assaulted one person at Matabari, then the local public detained him and handed over to police...”, the letter said about Thursday’s incident.

Naha was injured in the scuffle after he was manhandled by the public. He was later treated at Tripurasundari District Hospital.

He is currently under police custody and so is his ‘trishul’.

The Tripurasundari temple is one of 51 Hindu Shaktipeeths or holy shrines of the Shakta order. It was built during the reign of Maharaja Dhanya Manikya Bahadur of Tripura’s Manikya dynasty more than 500 years ago.

The temple attracts a huge number of devotees and sages during Diwali every year.