Varanasi police have arrested 33 touts from near Kashi Vishwanath temple in the last three days on the charge of forcing devotees to cough up money for darshan.
Many of the touts belong to the families of the priests of the temple and one is a
Muslim.
While such extortion is not uncommon in Varanasi, incidents of cheating and harassment of devotees have increased after the premises of the temple were expanded and the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor was built in 2021 on the stated reason of providing better facilities to the faithful.
Atul Anjan Tripathi, assistant commissioner of police of the Dashashwamedh Ghat area, said: “We began a drive recently to identify these crooks and free the temple from their clutches. We have arrested 33 of them till date, including seven today. The operation will continue for a few more days.”
Upendra Pratap Singh, the officer in charge of the Dashashwamedh Ghat police station, said: “The Kotwali police have also started a similar crackdown and arrested 10 persons for forcing devotees to pay them to offer obeisance at the Kal Bhairav temple. They have been booked for cheating and breach of peace.”