Puri: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) is mulling installation of close circuit television (CCTV) cameras at Srimandir Jagamohan in the wake of assault on a devotee couple by two servitors on the shrine premises recently.
It is learnt that police often face problems in investigating incidents of assault and misbehavior inside Srimandir due to lack of evidence.
Sources said the SJTA will take a final call on installing CCTV cameras at Jagamohan after consulting the Chhatisha Niyog, the apex body of Srimandir servitors.
“The temple administration is mulling to install CCTVs at Jagamohan. The initiative will enable us to keep an eye on the servitors as well as on the devotees on the shrine premises. However, the cameras will be switched off during the performance of rituals,” said SJTA administrator (rituals) Pradip Dash.
Senior Daita servitor Binayak Das Mahapatra, meanwhile, welcomed the proposal and said, “The initiative can keep a check on any untoward incident on the shrine premises.”
The temple administration had earlier installed a few CCTV cameras at Jagamohan and other strategic places. However, the cameras were eventually removed following opposition from a section of servitors.
Servitors suspended
The SJTA suspended the two servitors accused of assaulting a devotee couple from Maharashtra May 20.
Madan Mohan Khuntia and Somnath Mekap have been placed under suspension for attacking Chetan Ganpath Amolkar and his wife inside the 12th century shrine over a ‘dakshina’ (donation) demand that the couple refused, Srimandir sources said.
However, police are yet to arrest the accused. It is learnt that
Khuntia and Mekap had sought a donation of Rs 501 from Amolkar’s wife near the Bhitarkatha (inner circle) of the shrine.
They allegedly abused and even assaulted her after she refused to oblige.
The two servitors also assaulted the husband and tried to snatch a gold chain from him when he protested the hooliganism.
Amolkar had sustained injuries on his right hand and neck in the assault. He had lodged a complaint in this regard with Singhadwar police.
“The accused have absconded since the incident. We have raided their houses,” said Singhadwar police station in-charge Gokul Ranjan Das.
Woman hurt in Srimandir mishap
A woman devotee suffered head injury at the Jagannath temple here after a branch of a tree fell on her, Tuesday. The victim, Satilata Panda (65) of Baseli Sahi, here was rushed to the district headquarters hospital for treatment. Panda was sitting under the mythical Banyan tree (Kalpa Bata Bruksha) when the branch broke off and fell on her head. She was bleeding, eye-witnesses said. The incident is the second of its kind on the temple premises within four days. A woman devotee, Basanti Rout of Damapada in Banki area, was injured when a piece of plastered cement had come crashing down on her near the Nata Mandap.