90-year-old priest stoned to death in Varanasi

A ninety-year-old priest was stoned to death when he resisted a theft at a Hanuman temple in Saraiyya village under Chaubeypur police station in Varanasi.

Bhrigunath Yadav was assaulted by a group of thieves with bricks and stones when he tried to stop them from running away with the silver crown and garland on Lord Hanuman’s statue inside the temple early on Monday morning, SP (rural) Shripati Mishra said.

The priest died on the spot and the thieves decamped with the valuables, he said. A search is on to nab the culprits, he said, adding that the body of the priest has been sent for a post-mortem.