Shastri booked for provocative speech

Udaipur: Self-styled godman Dhirendra Krishna Shastri the head priest of Bageshwar Dham has been booked for allegedly making a provocative speech and hurting public sentiments, a police official said on Friday.

Shastri claims to predict the future of people through chits and over the phone. The case was registered at Hathipol police station over a speech that he delivered during a ‘Dharm Sabha’ programme held at Gandhi ground in Udaipur on Thursday, ASP Chandrasheel Thakur said.

Taking a suo moto cognisance of the incident, the Udaipur police registered a case against the 26-year-old under Section 153-A of IPC for promoting enmity on grounds of religion.

Meanwhile, five men were held in Udaipur’s Kelwara area for attempting to remove flags at a religious place to replace them with saffron ones. SHO Kelwara Mukesh Soni said the accused were caught while they were trying to remove flags at a religious place near Kumbhalgarh town.