Lokanath servitor held for assaulting woman

BHUBANESWAR: A servitor of Lokanath Temple in Puri was arrested on Sunday for allegedly assaulting a woman when she refused to pay him exorbitant 'dakshina'. The accused, Rabi Narayan Panda, is a resident of Puri.
Police action followed a complaint lodged by Usha Mohanty, 35, who works with a private company in Bhubaneswar. Mohanty, along with five of her relatives, visited the famous Shiva shrine in the morning.Panda started pestering them and insisted them to take his assistance to offer puja. When the pilgrims decided to oblige him, he demanded Rs 200 .
"When Mohanty protested the excessive charge, he misbehaved with her and manhandled her. He snatched away her bhog and threw her out of the temple. When her relatives opposed, he misbehaved with them," IIC of Baselisahi police station Madhusmita Padhi told TOI, quoting the FIR.
Even as Panda attacked Mohanty in full public view, other priests and a few police personnel present there did not come to her rescue. After committing the alleged offence, the accused was present in the temple when police reached and arrested him.
Two priests of Jagannath Temple allegedly manhandled noted Italian dancer Ileana Citaristi atop a chariot when she refused to pay them money during Rath Yatra last year.
In a separate incident, a 70-year-old man fainted inside Jagannath Temple and was subsequently declared 'brought-dead' by doctors at Puri district headquarters hospital on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Bhagaban Paramar, a resident of Cuttack. He collapsed near Ananda Bazaar. He was accompanied by three of his neighbours. Temple rituals remained unaffected.