Mahant succumbs to gunshot injury, kin protest in Aliganj

LUCKNOW: Family members and relatives of a 50-year-old mahant (priest), who succumbed to a gunshot injury, staged protest in Aliganj area of Lucknow on Monday, demanding action against the accused in the matter.

Additional police force was deployed in the area to ensure law and order.

The deceased, one Ajay Shankar Shukla, was reportedly the former priest of the famous Hanuman temple in Aliganj. In October, he was allegedly shot at by some temple trustees with whom he had a dispute.

Shukla had suffered bullet injury in the chest. He underwent a surgery at the KGMU Trauma Centre and had been in hospital since then.

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 son alleged that his father was getting threats from one of the trustees Anil Tiwari. The case is still under investigation.

SP (trans-Gomti) Harendra Kumar, along with other police officials, was on the spot when this report was filed. “The family members are protesting in support of their demands. We are in constant touch with them and the situation is under control,” he said. Besides action against the accused, the family members demanded financial compensation and a government job, said cops.