Five more held for attacking Chilkur Balaji Temple priest in Telangana

Five more persons, including two women, were on Monday arrested for allegedly assaulting Chilkur Balaji Temple priest Rangarajan at his residence near here, police said.

About 20-25 people clad in black uniforms barged into Rangarajan's house in Chilkur, Rangareddy district, near the temple premises, on February 7 and demanded him to support financially as well as to recruit people in "Rama Rajyam Army" and assaulted him, they said.

The matter came to light on February 8 and on the complaint of Rangarajan, a case was registered, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rajendranagar Zone) CH Srinivas said on Monday.

All the accused were identified and on Sunday, the founder of "Rama Rajyam" organisation and the main accused, K Veer Raghava Reddy (45), a native of East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, was arrested and remanded to judicial custody, the DCP said in a release.

In the early hours on Monday, five more accused, including two women from Khammam and Nizamabad districts of Telangana were arrested, the official said.

The accused, Veer Raghava Reddy, floated "Rama Rajyam" in 2022 on the social media platforms and also runs a YouTube channel, police said.

According to the police, he posted a few ‘slokas’ from the Bhagavad Gita and motivated the audience to join the Army to protect Hindu Dharma.

He also posted that people who register themselves from September 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024 will be recruited as "Rama Rajyam Army" with a salary of Rs 20,000.

In response to the post, 25 members met the accused at Tanuku in Andhra Pradesh last month.

Subsequently, a contribution of Rs 2,000 was collected from each individual and they got the dresses stitched by a local tailor, police said.

On February 6, after getting the uniforms, all of them met in an independent house in Yapral, Hyderabad, and took photos and videos in the uniform with the backdrop of the organisation.

On February 7, all of them went to Chilkur in three vehicles and committed the crime, the release added.

Temples Protection Movement Convenor M V Soundararajan, who is also Rangarajan’s father, who issued a press statement on Sunday, alleged that a group claiming to be descendants of the Ikshvaku clan sought to establish Rama Rajya by forming private armies to punish those "who do not accept their mission or agenda."

He stated that they had "misunderstood the concept of Constitutional Rama Rajya".

Soundararajan further alleged that since his son refused to associate with them, he was brutally assaulted.

Further probe is on.