Priest’s murder case cracked, 1held

Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, April 19

The police on Friday claimed to have solved the murder case of a temple priest with the arrest of a person.

Priest Balvir Kumar, a resident of Khatika, was stabbed to death by a devotee at a temple in Kartarpur on April 8. The accused has been identified as Bhupinder Singh, alias Vikcy, a resident of Bhagwati Nagar in Jammu.

According to the police, the accused killed the priest because he could not get married despite promises made by the latter, whom he used to visit regularly.

Arrested from outside a dhaba in Rattangarh, Churu district in Rajasthan, Balwinder told the police that he and his family were devotees of the priest and used to visit the temple in Kartarpur. The accused said the priest had given him repeated assurances that he would get married soon and would get a job.

The accused added that he neither got any job nor he got married. He told the police that on the morning of April 8, the priest gave him the same assurance and in a fit of rage, he killed the former.

The police have recovered the weapon used in the crime.

SSP Navjot Singh Mahal said, “An FIR was registered at the Karatrpur police station on the statement of Suraj Parkash of Mohalla Khatika. He told the police that Bhupinder had murdered Balvir, who was the main priest of Baba Balak Nath Mandir. He told the police that the accused stabbed the priest 8 to 10 times with a knife.”

The SSP said 10 teams were sent to various religious places to arrest the accused.

He said, “While examining the CCTV footage of Gurdwara Nanded Sahib, Maharashtra, and questioning locals, we came to know that he visited the place, but before policemen reached him, he fled. Thereafter, the investigation reached Churu from where the accused was arrested on Thursday.”