On March 22, Friday, a man allegedly attempted to burn down a Shankaracharya Math in Gujarat’s Bharuch town. He also reportedly left behind an ominous message for its priest, threatening to behead him.
The CCTV footage of the incident showed a man in a black shirt and a skull cap hurling something towards the door of the religious institution located in the Navchowki Ovara area alongside the Narmada River before igniting it. Among the items tossed towards the door, were papers bearing a handwritten message reading ‘Gustakh Pir Ki Saza, Sar Tan Se Juda‘ were discovered.
Based on the CCTV footage, the Bharuch police set up seven teams, including the local police station, local Crime Branch, Special Operations Group and other units, to track down the accused.
“Around 5.30 am, a person threw some material on the door of the math in an attempt to set it ablaze. CCTV has captured the act. We have formed various teams to conduct a detailed investigation into the case. An FIR has also been registered in this regard,” Mayur Chavda, the district superintendent of police told reporters, confirming the incident at the Math.
Bharuch | દ્વારકા શારદાપીઠ સંચાલિત શંકરાચાર્ય મઠમાં કોઈ અસામાજિક તત્વો દ્વારા આગ લગાડવાનો પ્રયાસ
— Jamawat (@Jamawat3) March 22, 2024
.#bharuch #dwarka #gujarat #fire #shankaracharya #jamawat pic.twitter.com/Y0gke3HRy9
Muktanand Swami, a maths priest, told reporters that he was present when the incident unfolded.
According to Swami, the Shankaracharya Math and the two nearby temples are part of Dwarka Sharda Peeth, one of the four prominent peeths, founded by the Aadi Sankaracharya.
According to the seer, the man entered the Math premises around 5.30 am, poured some kind of inflammable liquid all over the premises and set fire to a part of the Math. “Before fleeing he also threw some bits of paper that had some threatening messages in the air. On checking the CCTV footage, we saw that he had entered from the back door,” Muktanand Swami said.
“When I returned to my math after performing puja at the adjoining temple around 5 am, my neighbour Dilip Dave came running and informed me that a person was throwing some material on the math’s door. That man then set ablaze the door, which I doused afterwards,” said the priest.
It should be mentioned that Sri Shankaracharya Math Dwarkashardapith is in charge of overseeing the Sri Pashupati Mahadev Temple, where the incident took place. Local Hindus were incensed at the occurrence, and activists from several organisations came to the temple as soon as it was reported. Following that, stringent plans were put in place to avoid any unpleasant incidents, and the local police were also informed.
Notes with ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ scribbled thrown inside the Sankaracharya Math in Bharuch
After reviewing the CCTV footage, the police discovered that the miscreant entered the building from the riverbank and made his way to both the math and the temple.
The police said that the culprit tried to set fire to the premises by setting the door ablaze and also left behind some pieces of paper, one which contained a sinister threat for the Math’s priest “Gustakh Pir Ki Saza, Sar Tan Se Juda”.
