Uddhav Thaceray calls Yogi Adityanath over murders of two Sadhus in UP

Lucknow : Political controversy erupted after two sadhus were found murdered inside a temple in UP, days after another two sadhus were mob lynched in Maharashtra.

The sadhus, 52 and 35, were killed on Monday night, allegedly by a man they had berated and accused of theft. The accused man has been arrested and charged with murder, said a police officer.

"Raju said he had bhang (cannabis) and went into the temple and murdered the priests. We asked him about reports he attacked the sadhus with a sword but the accused claims he only used lathis," Ravindra Kumar, a senior government official, said.

"The accused claimed it was the will of God," Mr Kumar told reporters.

The Uttar Pradesh Police has rejected any communal angle behind the murder of the Sadhus.

"The two babas lived here at the temple. One person named Murai alias Raju, who belongs to a scheduled caste, took away a ''chimta'' (tongs) for which he was scolded and abused by the priests. After the murder, villagers were looking for him and spotted him drugged with bhang," a senior police officer, Santosh Kumar Singh, said.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked for a report on the killings.

Maharashta CM Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday called up Yogi Adityanath. "Have spoken to Yogi Adityanath over phone and discussed the incident. I told him we are with you against such a heinous crime. Just the way we acted upon and nabbed the accused, I wish you would do the same and avoid giving this a communal angle," he tweeted.