Bageshwar Dham head priest booked for provocative speech

Udaipur: Self-styled godman Dhirendra Krishna Shastri the head priest of Bageshwar Dham has been booked for allegedly making a provocative speech and hurting public sentiments, a police official said on Friday.

Shastri claims to predict the future of people through chits and over the phone.

The case was registered at Hathipol police station over a speech that he delivered during a ‘Dharm Sabha’ programme held at Gandhi ground in Udaipur on Thursday, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Chandrasheel Thakur said.

Taking a suo moto cognisance of the incident, the Udaipur police registered a case against the 26-year-old under Section 153-A of IPC for promoting enmity on grounds of religion.

Meanwhile, five men were arrested in Udaipur’s Kelwara area for attempting to remove flags at a religious place to replace them with saffron ones.

Station House Officer (SHO) Kelwara police station (Rajsamand) Mukesh Soni said the accused were caught while they were trying to remove flags at a religious place near Kumbhalgarh town.