Varanasi, 8 December: The Varanasi commissionerate police on Monday arrested 7 touts from Bansphatak Wali Gali who were extorting huge amount from devotees in the name of providing ‘smooth darshan’ at Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
The Dashashwamedh ACP Atul Anjan Tripathi said that among the arrested accused are Ganesh Jaiswal, resident of Tedhinim Dashashwamedh, Aman Kumar, resident of village Hiravanpur Sindhora, Kailashnath Pandey, resident of Lahartara Manduadih, Ritesh Pandey, resident of Badi Pyari Chowk, Waheed Ahmed, son of late Vakil Ahmed, resident of Badadev Godaulia, Rambali Bind, resident of San Kuldhara Pokhara Bhelupur, Ravi Pandey, resident of Dhelwariya Pani Tanki Jaitpura. All the accused were brought in front of the media.
The ACP said that all the accused used to extract fee from devotees visiting the temple in the name of providing ‘easy darshan’. During interrogation, the accused told that they used to misbehave with the devotees and also threaten them if they did not pay the desired amount. The police arrested all of them on the basis of CCTV footage. Earlier also, a total of 33 people were arrested on the charge of brokering in the name of providing ‘darshan’.
Legal action is being taken against the arrested accused.