The temple trust chairman in Bandi Atmakur Mandal Prathap Reddy, on Monday (December 30) beat two Hindu priests, Murugu Phani Sarma and Chakrapani Sarma, with a cane.
As per a report by The New Indian Express, temple staff Eswaraiah and Nagaraju also joined Reddy in the act of caning the temple priest.
The priest had apparently questioned the chairman for violating the Covid-19 regulations and issuing tickets for darshan even after 5 PM.
Both the wounded priests were later taken to the Nandyal government hospital and a case has been filed with regards to this incident according to Superintendent of Police (SI) Raja Reddy
In recent times there have been multiple reports of priests being physically assaulted in Andhra Pradesh (AP) has come into light.
In November 2018, a 68-year-old Hindu pujari of the Sai Baba temple in Warangal was attacked by his Muslim neighbour over the utilization of loudspeaker at the shrine. The priest and later he succumbed to his injuries.
In September 2020, miscreants vandalized the idol of Nandi kept at the Abhaya Anjaneya Swamy Temple in Agara Mangalam village in Gangadhara Nellore Mandal of Chittoor district. The same month also witnessed the burning of Lakshmi Narasimha temple chariot in Andhra Pradesh.