Kota, Apr 3 (PTI) A 46-year-old mentally challenged man was allegedly thrashed with a waist belt after being tied to a tree over suspicion of theft from a temple here on Thursday morning, police said.

However, the temple priest denied anything missing from the premises.

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According to police, the accused allegedly saw Dhannaram Prajapt throwing some items from a Shiv Temple into the Chamba River. Following this, they tied him to a tree with a plastic pipe and thrashed him with a waist belt for about an hour.

A purported video of the incident has surfaced online showing the accused hitting Prajapt as he screamed: "God is not punishing me, then why are you punishing me? (Upparwala nahi maar raha toh tum kyon maar rahe ho?)".

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Taking cognizance of the video, police have arrested Ravi Meghwal (25). Efforts are being made to identify and arrest the other accused, Circle Inspector Arvind Bhardwaj said.

The temple priest submitted in writing that no item was stolen from the temple. He said that it was not fair for the public to take the matter into their hands but they do it to make videos and show themselves as heroes, Bhardwaj said.

Dhannaram is mentally challenged. He has been sent to a shelter home in the city, Bhardwaj added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)