Desai alleges midnight mob attack on way to Kapaleshwar shrine

Nashik: Right-to-pray activist Trupti Desai has alleged that around 25-30 motorcycle-borne youths, armed with acid bottles and petrol bombs, attacked her when she and her companions tried to reach Kapaleshwar temple here on Thursday night.
The activist from Pune on Friday filed an FIR against some unidentified assailants with the Panchvati police station, alleging that they had a plan to kill her.Police have so far detained four persons on charges of unlawful assembly and rioting for interrogation. Commissioner of police S Jagannathan said the investigation has started on the basis of the claims made by Desai in the FIR. "We have detained some suspects and are interrogating them," he told TOI.
On Thursday afternoon, police had to rescue the Bhumata Brigade chief from a mob of some local residents and worshippers, who allegedly beat her up as she tried to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the Kapaleshwar temple. Police had asked her to spend the day at the Government Rest House following Thursday's incident.
Traditionally, only members of some designated families representing the Brahmin and Gurav communities ('pujak') were allowed to enter the core area of the Kapaleshwar temple in the Panchvati area and worship Lord Shiva.
After her failed attempt to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the Kapaleshwar temple on Thursday afternoon, she again tried to reach the shrine around midnight. "While we were on our way to the temple, around 25-30 bike-borne youths intercepted us at Ravivar Karanja and started pelting stones and bricks at our car. They were carrying acid bottles and petrol bombs also. Their intention was to kill me and my companions," Desai told TOI on Friday.
The activist said her driver drove her to safety away from the group and took her to the Government Rest House, around 12km from Ravivar Karanja. The bikers, however, followed her for nearly three km, before giving up finally. "We were provided with security and a police van was following us as we headed to the temple. But it too vanished somewhere in the middle. It was our driver who saved us from the mob," Desai said.
"She was repeatedly requested not to move away from the van. But she left in a hurry, leaving our van behind. When we tried to call her later, we found her cellphone switched off," an official on duty told TOI on the condition of anonymity.
Senior inspector (Panchvati police station) Prakash Sapkale said the four suspects were booked them under sections 144, 142, 146, and 159 of the CrPC. But Desai was not happy with the sections slapped on them. "I categorically said that I was attacked and the intention was to kill me and my companions. But police booked them for unlawful assembly, rioting, fighting in public place and disturbing public peace. This shows that police are in a nexus with them," she said. Till going to the press, Desai was still at the Panchvati police station.
In the meantime, the entire area around Kapaleshwar temple was under police security amid rumours that Desai might return to the shrine any time. Armed police jawans continued to patrol the area, while common people and tourists preferred not to venture out.
"The sight of such a huge deployment of police around the temple is a matter of concern for the tourists. Many of them cancelled their visit to the Kapaleshwar temple and left for Ramkund," said Mohan Shinde, a private guide at Ramkund.
On May 19, violence had broken out at the Kapaleshwar temple when a mob of nearly 100 devotees opposed Desai's attempt to enter the sanctum sanctorum, prompting police to use lathis on them. The protesters had then dared her to enter the core area of Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai first before entering the sanctum sanctorum of the Kapaleshwar temple. Several devotees were injured in the lathicharge by police.
In recent past, the Trimbakeshwar temple discontinued its 500-year-old tradition and allowed women to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord Shiva shrine. Women activists had taken up the issue of entry inside Trimbakeshwar temple sanctum and the Bombay high court ruled in their favour.