Priest caught in own yarn

Coming as it did after the Akshardham attack, Jamnagar SP Manoj Shashidhar got alarmed and rushed to the temple along with his top officers. He also issued orders for strict patrolling and thorough checking of traffic passing through.

The police began tracing the vehicle’s registration number but found that the car, a Tata Sumo not a Bolero, was registered in the name of P. Sothakar of Ghogha Port, Bhavnagar.

Police smelt a rat when they found that the car was parked at Sothakar’s residence, when it was supposed to be in the temple premises.

Then, police began interrogating the pujari, who broke down and confessed he had spread the rumour to draw people’s attention towards this famous, but neglected temple.

Meanwhile, as news of the possible attack spread, Shardapeeth Secretary to the Shankracharya Shri Sadanand Brahmchariji, Shri Govind Swamiji of Shri Swaminarayan Temple and local politicians rushed to the spot.

The Suvarna Teerth temple was constructed in the eighth century. Ironically, the adverse publicity has brought the beautiful temple into the limelight once again just as the pujari wished.

Investigations have revealed that pujari Bajrangdas alias Ram Mohan Sharma from UP, used to work as a police constable, before he came to Gujarat in 1990. According to police, he left his job as a constable under mysterious circumstances.