Amritsar: A 32-year-old Sikh priest, working at a Gurdwara in Bannia village, was attacked with sharp-edged weapons, and his leg was chopped off in the Tarn Taran district of Punjab, a police officer said on Friday. The victim priest was identified as Sukhchain Singh. The incident occurred on Thursday night in Khadoor Sahib town and the attackers managed to escape from the spot, Senior Superintendent of Police Gurmit Chohan said.
Later, "The priest was admitted to a hospital where two surgeries were done and he is now out of danger. His leg was chopped off brutally by the attackers, besides deep cuts were inflicted on his hand's finger. His leg which the miscreants chopped off was not found around," the Senior Superintendent of Police said. A case has been registered based on the statement of the priest's family and those who were involved in the incident will be arrested soon, SSP Chohan added.
In a similar incident in January this year, priests were attacked by some unidentified miscreants outside the ancestral home of former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb in Udaipur in the Gomati district of Tripura. The incident occurred at a time when a group of priests arrived at Deb's residence at Rajdhanagar in the Jamjuri area of Udaipur. The priests came to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha MP's residence to perform 'Yagna' at the annual 'Shradh' ceremony of Deb's father.
According to reports, the miscreants attacked the saints and vandalised their vehicles. Passersby and locals came to the rescue of the priests following which the miscreants fled the spot. "I came to visit Maa Tripura Sundari temple. Here I came on instructions of our Gurudevji to oversee the preparations of the 'Yagna' to be performed. Suddenly a mob came there and attacked me and vandalised my vehicle. They raised their voice and said either there will be CPI (M) or none," said Jitendra Kaushik, whose vehicle was damaged.
