By IANS,
Lucknow : An explosion Sunday night on the premises of the ancient Gorakhnath temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur district has raised security concerns.
According to the police, a powerful cracker went off Sunday night at the Bhim Mansarovar pond situated on the temple premises. No one was injured.
“The explosion might have been caused by a firecracker but it has exposed the loopholes in the security system at the temple,” temple head priest Mahant Adityanath told reporters Monday in Gorakhpur, some 300 km from Lucknow.
“Considering the huge rush of the devotees at the temple, district administration and police authorities must come up with an effective security cover for the temple,” he said.
“As the temple is located near the India-Nepal border, on several occasions in the past I personally approached senior police officials for strengthening security, but to no avail,” he added.
Adityanath is also a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of parliament.
Significantly, the area where the explosion took place remains crowded, but showers at the time kept devotees away from the site.
“We are not challenging the claims of the police that the explosion was caused by firecrackers. But the situation would not have been the same if like on any other day devotees remained present near the pond area at the time of explosion,” another priest, Avaidyanath, told reporters.
“The explosion is the handiwork of some mischievous elements; it has no terror angle.” Superintendent of Police (City) Umesh Srivastava told IANS.
“No pellets, no metallic pieces or anything incriminating have been found from the site. A detailed investigation is on,” he added.