Absconding Puri servitors withdraw pleas from HC

A day after the Orissa High Court refused to grant relief to an absconding servitor of Jagannath Temple in Puri, other fugitive servitors who had also sought anticipatory bail, withdrew their pleas.
The HC on Thursday had rejected the anticipatory bail plea of absconding servitor Bhimsen Palankdhari.
Ipsita Pratihary and Bhagirathi Khuntia along with Palankdhari, who were booked by Puri Police for assaulting some journalists, threatening the district collector and misbehaving with a woman police officer during the Niladri Bije ritual of the deities last month, had sought anticipatory bail from the HC.
The police had registered three cases in this connection and had booked 16 people.

While 12 of the accused have been arrested, Palankdhari, Pratihary, Khuntia and key accused Damodar Mahasuar have gone underground.