Climbing Taladhwaja: Arrested devotee forwarded to court

Puri: A devotee from Gujarat arrested by the Police yesterday for climbing the Taladhwaja chariot of Lord Balabhadra was forwarded to the court today.

According to reports, Dipesh Shah, a businessman from Ahmadabad had climbed the Taladhwaja chariot of Lord Balabhadra in the wee hours July 8. After having the darshan of the Lord, he had gone to the Nandighosa chariot for the darshan of of Lord Jagannath. While climbing the chariot, he was detained by the police. Following a complaint lodged by the Shri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), police arrested Shah yesterday after examining the CCTV footage.

Talking to media persons, IIC of Kumbharapada police station Krushna Chandra Sethi said CCTV footage showed Shah climbing Taladhwaja chariot at about 3.40 AM on Friday. Jagannath Temple Police (JTP) and local police caught him while he was trying to climb Nandighosa chariot.

"Police has registered a case against Shah under section 188 of the IPC and section 30 of Shri Jagannath Temple Act,” the IIC added.

To a question on the action to be taken against a woman devotee who was seen climbing the chariot with a servitor, he said the police will take action only after the SJTA takes a decision in this regard.