MUMBAI: A man has been beaten to death at one of Sikhism’s holiest shrines in India after he allegedly attempted to commit a sacrilegious act by trespassing into an inner shrine.
Police said the incident took place on Saturday at about 17:45 local time (11:45 GMT) and was captured on camera as evening prayers at the Golden Temple in Amritsar were being broadcast on television.
Footage showed the man jumping over the rail and into the temple’s central enclosure, where the holy book Guru Granth Sahib is kept, and picking up a sacred diamond-encrusted sword.
Deputy commissioner of Amritsar police Parminder Singh Bhandal said he was apprehended by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) staff members deployed in the shrine complex and led to the main administration’s office.
