6 servitors arrested for attack on scribes during Niladri Bije

Puri: Six servitors have been arrested by police for creating a ruckus and attacking media persons leading to disruption of the Niladri Bije ritual of Lord Jagannath and his siblings for over an hour on Sunday.

According to sources, the six arrested servitors have been identified as Bapi Khuntia, Shankar Palankdhari, Bipin Patri, Papun Mohapatra, Baban Khuntia and Madan Khuntia, who was arrested earlier.

Meanwhile, Puri collector Arvind Agarwal has lodged two FIRs with the SP Sarthak Sarangi against the six servitors who had misbehaved with and abused him with foul language and threatened to kill him during Niladri Bije of the deities on Sunday night. The six servitors against whom the FIRs have been lodged are Damodar Mahasuara, Jayakrushna Mahasuara, Bhimsen Palankdhari, Rabi Das, Ipsit Pratihari and Saina Khuntia.

3 new cases have been registered in this connection. Two have been filed based on the report of the Puri Collector, while another case has been registered based on the report filed by the on-duty ASI.

The pahandi of Sudarsana during the Niladri Bije of the deities from the chariots to the Ratna Sinhasana was disrupted after Puri Collector Arvind Agarwal, who was present at the spot, had an altercation with some servitors over a woman devotee, said to be a relative of a servitor, climbing the chariots.

Media persons who were out to find the reasons behind the delay in Pahandi were manhandled by the servitors.

Notably, a young girl, accompanied by a senior servitor, climbed the Taladhwaja chariot of Lord Balabhadra, while two girls and a woman were also found climbing the Nandighosa and Taladhwaja chariots.