Puri, Nov. 19: Police today started the process of attaching properties of the Shree Jagannath Temple servitors for allegedly manhandling the district collector during the last rath yatra.

Puri deputy superintendent police (DSP) Pravat Chandra Routray said: "We had approached the court to confiscate the properties of the absconding servitors. Today, we received the orders following which we started the process."

The police today sealed the three-storey Sharada lodge belonging to one of the absconding servitors, Ipsit Pratihari. The lodge is situated near Nari Sadan, which is in the Town Police Station limits. His bank accounts were also seized. Before sealing the lodge, the police vacated the 30 tourists staying there and put up in other lodges in the city.

Ipsit and six others had been declared absconders after they failed to surrender in the wake of the alleged manhandling of Puri collector Arvind Agarwal.

They had also been accused of roughing up journalists during niladri vije on July 17, the last day of the car festival when Lord Jagannath and His siblings came down from their chariots and enter the temple. The trouble started when a servitor forcibly took his daughter onto the chariot of Lord Balabhadra despite a ban on outsiders climbing on the chariots.

Later, the police lodged cases against the servitors and asked all of them to surrender before the police. When they did not surrender, the police put up their pictures at various places in the city.

The cops had filed a case in court on September 12 seeking permission to confiscate their properties. While two servitors - Kashinath Khuntia and Rabi Dash - later surrendered and were eventually granted bail, five others, including Ipsit, are still on the run.

Beach safety

The Puri district today decided it would earmark places on the beach where tourists could safely bathe. More lifeguards would also be deployed.

"Though we have life guards on the beach, at times, the tourists enter the deep sea without intimating them and invite problems. To avoid these risks, we will deploy more life guards," said Puri sub-collector Uddhab Chandra Majhi.

Local MLA Maheswar Mohanty said all steps would be taken to ensure that tourists had an enjoyable stay in the town.