Three Ayodhya seers put under house arrest before Thackeray arrival: SSP

Ayodhya: The Ayodhya administration on Saturday, hours before the arrival of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray here to pay obeisance to Ram Lalla at the makeshift temple, put three Hindu seers under house arrest for threatening to greet the CM with black flag, said police.

The seers had threatened to greet Thackeray with black flag saying that he has formed government in Maharashtra with the help of those who had dubbed Lord Ram as an imaginary figure.

The three seers who were put under house arrest on early Saturday morning are Mahant Raju Das of Hanumangarhi Temple, Mahant Paramhans Das of Tapaswi Chhawni Temple and Rakesh Dutt Mishra, the president of Hindu Mahasabha, said Ayodhya Senior Superintendent of police Ashish Tiwari.

Thackeray reached the temple town shortly after the noon.

Sources said three teams of police personnel swooped on the houses of the three saints and served them with the adminstration order to stay in the house arrest and left after deploying a few policemen outside their residences to prevent them from venturing out.

With the Maharashtra chief minister reaching the makeshift temple, several seers have now raised the demand to wash the entire temple premises with ‘Ganga jal’ to purify the premises.