Police have arrested 21 “swindlers” from around the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi on the charge of demanding money from devotees to facilitate quick and easy darshan of the deity.
Atul Anjan Tripathi, additional commissioner of police of the Dashashwamedh area in Varanasi, said: “We were getting information that some people have been demanding bribes from devotees to take them quickly inside the temple for puja and (Sugam) Darshan. We formed a team of policemen, which arrested them over the last two days.”
The devotees are expected to stand in a queue and wait for their turn or buy a ticket from the temple management office for paid darshan and puja of Lord Shiva. However, sources in Varanasi said that swindlers had become more active than before near the Kashi Vishwanath Temple since a corridor was inaugurated in December 2021.
“It is the result of a fight between two groups of pandas (those who help people in offering prayers at temples). The associates of some pandas openly demand money from devotees waiting for their turn in a queue. You can experience it any day. But in the last few weeks, one group had become more active than the other in luring devotees,” said a supplier of puja items whose shop is near the temple.
“The police have taken action against the crooks of one group and created an open field for the other groups to extort money from the devotees,” alleged the shopkeeper.
Tripathi, however, said: “We acted based on complaints from devotees and arrested 21 people. We are alert to prevent any such activity.”
Police sources said that the swindlers used to take anything between ₹500 and ₹2,000 to make the devotees’ darshan easier. Sometimes they helped the devotees with easy darshan, but many of them would also sneak out of the temple after taking money from them.
“Those who have been arrested belong to Varanasi, Jaunpur, Mirzapur, Chandauli and Ghazipur,” said the ACP.