An injured devotee being taken to hospital. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Jan. 29: Rowdy BSF personnel today spilt blood in the precincts of one of the holiest shrines in the country, assaulting priests and devotees after being denied preferential treatment during darshan in the sanctum sanctorum.

Official sources said at least 14 people were wounded when the jawans from the Patgaon BSF camp assaulted the gathering at Assam’s Kamakhya temple during morning rituals. The BSF personnel also fired in the air. The temple management put the number of injured at 30.

Senior superintendent of police Nitul Gogoi said 19 of the accused have been taken into custody and the vehicle which had taken them to Kamakhya was seized at Jalukbari. “We arrested them on the basis of the FIR by the temple authorities.”

Police constable Krishna Bahadur Chetri, who was at the receiving end of some blows, said between 25 and 30 BSF personnel in civvies arrived at the temple around 11.30 am and demanded that they be allowed into the main shrine immediately.

“I told them politely that it could not be done. Visitors who were in the queue for several hours protested, too. The BSF personnel went back, but returned with their service weapons and batons to create terror,” Chetri recounted.

The group fired two rounds in the air before beating up the priests and devotees. Several elderly people were injured in a stampede triggered by the sudden assault.

VIPs, including Chief Justice of India Y.K. Sabharwal, had offered prayers at the shrine a couple of hours before it turned into a battlefield.

A visitor who identified himself as Dipankar Dutta said he saw the jawans arguing with the police constable and some of the priests when he was entering the temple. “By the time I came out of the sanctum sanctorum, there was big trouble. The jawans did not even spare a priest in prayer and beat him up mercilessly.”

Priest Joydeb Sarma, who suffered head injuries, said from his bed at Gauhati Medical College Hospital that the incident was a “shocking experience” for him. Three more persons were admitted to the same hospital. One of them was later shifted to a private hospital.

Deputy commissioner Samir Kumar Sinha convened a meeting of the temple management and senior police and BSF officials to review the incident.

BSF commanding officer Ghanashyam Pursawani, who is in charge of the Patgaon-based 128 Battalion, assured the metro administration and the temple authorities of prompt penal action against the guilty personnel.

Sources said the BSF instituted a court of inquiry later in the day.

The All Assam Students’ Union complained against the BSF in letters to the President and the Prime Minister. The organisation gave the paramilitary force 24 hours to punish the culprits.

The All Guwahati Students’ Union has decided to observe tomorrow as a “black day” in protest against the incident.