Priest attacked

Warangal: A priest in Sai Baba temple near Pochamma Maidan here was allegedly assaulted by a person belonging to another community following an altercation between them over the blaring of  loud speaker in the temple.

According to the police, a person, said to be Natiq Hussaini of LB Nagar, demanded that the priest D Satyanarayana stop the loud speaker of the temple playing ‘suprabhatham’ at about 5.30 am. An argument ensued when the priest refused to do so.

Natiq attacked the priest when the latter refused to stop the loud speaker. Noticing the brawl, the people nearby intervened Natiq and shifted the priest to the MGM hospital. It is learnt that the priest is being treated at the hospital. The CCTV cameras inside the temple captured the episode, it is learnt.

The BJP workers led by Warangal Urban District president Rao Padma staged rastha rokho at Pochamma Maidan condemning the attack against priest. They demanded the arrest of Natiq. Later in the evening, the police took Natiq into custody.

Rao Padma expressed doubts over the person arrested by the police as his identity differs from the one who was caught on CCTV footage. She said that there were instances that police showed a mentally challenged person as the accused.