Tension prevails in Gonda after a chief priest of a temple in Ayodhya was sprayed with bullets by some unidentified assailants in Puredaal village in the wee hours of Friday. Senior officers rushed to the spot along with heavy police force to avert any untoward incident. A case has been also registered and half a dozen teams have been formed to work out the case at earliest and arrest the culprits.
Reports said that Ramdev Das (77), head priest of "Ayaram Akhara" of Ayodhya in Faizabad, had visited to Jhalidham Ashram in Puredaal locality of Begumganj in Gonda on Thursday evening. He was accompanied by his disciples to take part in a religious programme.
Reports further said that on early Friday morning, Ramdev was going to attend call of nature when three unidentified miscreants suddenly struck and opened indiscriminate fire at him just at about 10 mts from the temple. The shoot-out created panic in the area and soon after the criminals escaped while firing in air to terrorise the public, the disciples shifted Ramdev to Dustrict Hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
Meanwhile seven people were killed and four others were injured when their car collided with a train at an unmanned railway crossing in Bilaspur area of Rampur district on Friday. According to reports, the accident occurred at Kaushalganj railway crossing when a Bolera carrying 11 members of a marriage party collided with Delhi bound Sampark Kranti Express train coming from Kathgodam. Among the injured two were women and all have been admitted to the hospital in Uttarakhand. Senior railway and district officials have reached to the spot to restore normal rail traffic as well as to shift the bodies for post-mortem examination.