Swaminarayan temple head priest 'kicks' elderly devotee

A controversy has erupted over the alleged beating of an elderly devotee by the head priest of the Swaminarayan temple in Gujarat's Gadhada town, which was captured in a video.

The clip of the alleged incident that occurred at the office of the temple went viral on the social media Monday.

The head priest S P Swami has denied the charge against him.

Located in Botad district, around 170 Kms from here, the temple is an important place for the Swaminarayan sect devotees. S P Swami is a prominent religious figure in Gujarat.

In the video, which was shot a few days back, Swami was purportedly seen kicking one Harsur Khachar during a heated debate over an issue involving another priest of the temple.

The clip shows the chief priest purportedly walking towards Khachar and kicking him near his neck in front of people seated in front of another priest, at the temple office.

Swami denied the charge and said he only tried to stop the devotee from passing derogatory remarks.

"Harsurbhai came to the office with some other sants and devotees to make a representation. But, he started using derogatory language while arguing with our Kothari Swami. I first urged him not to use such words. I was trying to stop him from misbehaving with sants," Swami told reporters.

"I only stopped him. No incident of attack took place. It is a conspiracy to interfere in our work," he claimed.

However, Khachar claimed that he was attacked for approaching the high court with a plea seeking a probe into "financial irregularities" committed by the temple trust.

"We went to the office of the temple to make a representation about some issue. But, Satya Prakash (SP) Swami got angry and attacked me. He kicked me intentionally. He was angry because I had approached the court about financial irregularities of the trust," said Khachar.