A priest of famous Kashi Vishwanath temple has been arrested for allegedly misbehaving with two women devotees, police and temple authorities said in Varanasi on Thursday.
Ganpat Jha was arrested last evening and produced on Thursday before a local court, which granted him bail, Circle Officer (Dashashwamedh), D P Shukla said.
According to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kashi Vishwanath temple, Ajay Kumar Awasthi, the priest allegedly misbehaved with woman devotees on September 26 on the temple premises when they had gone to worship.
Awasthi said, no written complaint was lodged by anyone against the priest but he came to know about the incident on October 13 by someone, who had made a verbal complaint that the priest had misbehaved in the temple and entire incident was captured on the CCTV but no action was taken against him.
The CEO said after coming to know about the incident, he scrutinised the CCTV footage. The incident happened on September 26 at around 9:45 AM to 9:50 AM, where the priest was seen misbehaving with women devotees on the temple premises, he said, adding Jha was clearly seen in the footage of misbehaving with two woman devotees.
“We then served him a notice on the same day giving him 48 hours to reply to the allegations. After no reply was received from him within the stipulated time, an FIR was lodged against him at Chowk police station last evening,”Awasthi said, adding such alleged behaviour by a priest against a woman was not expected.
The relatives of the priest alleged that it was a conspiracy to defame Jha’s reputation.
