Seers of 2 Akhadas at loggerheads over control of Veni Madhav Temple

PRAYAGRAJ: Two factions of seers belonging to Shripanchayati Akhada Mahanirwani and Juna Akhada are at loggerheads over the control of the ancient and revered Veni Madhav Temple located in Daraganj area of Prayagraj.

The tussle started following the recent death of the temple priest, and both the factions tried to take control of the temple, dedicated to Lord Vishnu and his consort Goddess Lakshmi, on Saturday night.

The district police and administration were forced to intervene following a face-off and for the time being, the temple, located close to Sangam, has been closed. Both the factions have been asked to present documents in support of their demand. The tussle began when a group of seers belonging to Shripanchayati Akhada Mahanirwani entered the temple premises on Saturday night and demanded the removal of temple mahant Vibhuti Narayan Tripathi, who belongs to Juna Akhada. Soon seers of the other group also assembled at the temple resulting in a brawl. Daraganj police intervened after receiving information and managed to restore peace. Senior officials including ADM City Madan Kumar, ACM fourth Kanchan and CO Astha Jaiswal also reached the spot. Daraganj circle officer Astha Jaiswal said both factions were asked to get relevant documents so that their dispute is resolved in presence of officials on January 18.

The seers belonging to Mahanirwani Akhada under mahant Raghuraj Giri said after the death of temple mahant Omkar Giri, he was given ‘Bhu Samadhi’ by Uma Shankar Giri, Prabhat Giri, Abhishek Dubey, Vibhuti Narayan Tripathi and Vivek Tiwari during the lockdown period without informing him.

Later they came to know that except for Umashankar Giri and Prabhat Giri, all other seers have been ousted from the temple. Vibhuti Narayan Tripathi proclaimed himself as mahant “illegally” and used funds worth ₹97 lakh received during Kumbh for the renovation of the temple premises.

Raghuraj Giri said that Shripanchayati Akhada Mahanirwani has been traditionally taking care of the temple and performing puja. The seers also obstructed the Aarti. After the intervention of the police, Aarti was performed, and force has been deployed on the temple premises. Guru Parampara has been followed at Veni Madhav Temple traditionally which included mahant Kailash Giri, mahant Saryu Giri, mahant Madhav Giri, mahant Ramgiri, mahant Omkar Giri, mahant Satyanand Giri and Purushottam Giri heading it from time to time.