Priest shot at in UP, Gehlot advises Yogi to take action

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday urged his Uttar Pradesh counterpart, Yogi Adityanath, to assure prompt action in the case in which a priest was shot at in Gonda district.

Gehlot's comment comes after he came under fire from the Bharatiya Janata Party and other Opposition parties over the incident in which a temple priest was burnt alive in Karauli district over a land dispute.

The Rajasthan Police had, however, nabbed the prime accused within 24 hours of the incident while the hunt for the others was underway.

Gehlot had also handed over the probe into the incident to CB-CID.

"An incident happened in Rajasthan in which police showed promptness and immediately arrested the main accused, the UP government also needs to immediately take action in the incident in which a priest was shot at in Gonda (Uttar Pradesh)," Gehlot said on Twitter.

He also condemned the BJP's "attempt to give a communal colour" to a land dispute between two families, which led to the death of the priest.

"It is condemnable that the BJP gave a communal colour to the tragic incident between the Meena and Vaishnav communities of a land dispute case between two families in Bukna villlage of Sapotara. This has undermined the image of Rajasthan unnecessarily," Gehlot said in a statement.

He said the priest's death was not the result of a caste conflict, neither a pre-planned incident.

The incident in UP's Gonda took place on October 10.

The priest of Ram Janaki temple in Itia Thok, Gonda was allegedly attacked while he was asleep.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Gonda, Shailesh Kumar Pandey had said that a case had been registered against four persons in connection with the incident.