Former priest of Aliganj Hanuman temple shot at

LUCKNOW: The 50-year-old expelled mahant (priest) of the famous Aliganj Hanuman temple, Ajay Shankar Shukla, was shot at while he was returning after visiting Chandrika Devi temple in Bakshi Ka Talab area on Thursday midnight.

Shukla, who sustained a bullet injury in the chest , is stable after having undergone surgery at the KGMU trauma centre. He has voiced suspicion that the attack was a fallout of a dispute with the temple trustees.

Police said the priest’s son Alok Shukla had registered an FIR against unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants but the victim suspected that the dispute with the trustees over possession of a room on the temple premises was the reason for the attack. The priest said he was getting threats from a trustee Anil Tiwari for the past few days.

SP (rural) Gaurav Grover said the victim was expelled from the temple in 2016 by trustees after a confrontation but the role of the trustees was yet to be ascertained. He said the names of the alleged culprits would be added in the investigation after recording the priest’s statements.

The SP said initial probe suggested that the priest accelerated his bike even after suffering bullet wound and informed cops and family members with help of some students of GCRG medical and engineering college standing on the roadside. He said the students got him admitted to a local hospital from where he was shifted to the trauma centre.

In his statement before some media persons, the priest said he had a dispute with the trustees since 2011, following which he had given a written complaint to Aliganj police. He also said he was threatened multiple times by one Anil Tiwari and had changed his mobile number as he was getting threats and abusive messages from unknown numbers for the past few days.