Priests seek protection for Jain temple from PM

New Delhi, Sep 28: The trustees and priests of Brahmadev temple at Gawan-Stavanidhi in Chikodi district today made representations to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister Shivraj Patil seeking their intervention to accord them protection.

In their memorandum submitted to Dr Singh and Mr Patil, they said they were in legal possession of the temple which attracts thousands of devotees from all parts of the country.

All the books of accounts concerning income and expenditure were produced before the appropriate authorities year after year, they said, adding, however, some 'bad but influential elements' had seized all the account and receipt books.

''The police had kept the trustees and priests under wrongful confinement and threatened them with abuses in collusion with persons in an attempt to prevent us from running temple administration lawfully,'' they said. They also attached the communication received by the office of Karnataka Home Minister M P Prakash asking the Belgaum Superintendent of Police to take necessary action on their complaint.

UNI