'Mentally ill' UP man makes hoax call of terrorist in Gorakhnath temple

GORAKHPUR: Police went into a tizzy after they received a phone call, which later proved hoax, that a terrorist had entered the famous Gorakhnath temple here.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is the head priest of the temple.

After getting the call on Thursday night, the police swung into action and SP City Kaustibh along with CO Gorakhnath Ratnesh Singh led a strong force to search the entire temple.

But they did not find any suspicious thing or man inside or outside the temple, the police said here on Friday.

They said someone from the Bansgaon area informed the police control room over the phone around 10 pm on Thursday about the presence of a terrorist in the temple.

However, his family members told the police that he was suffering from mental disease.

"With a dog and bomb squad the entire Gorakhnath temple was searched and after watching CCTV footage and also asking people, no suspicious thing or man was found.

With the help of surveillance, police traced that Shivendra Pratap Singh of Bedouli village under Bansgaon police station limit had called the police control room and gave fake information about the terrorist," the CO said.

"The man was not found at home and his family claims that he is under treatment for mental disease for the last 10 years. Police are investigating the claim of his family," he added.

The Gorakhnath temple is a temple of the Nath monastic order group of the Nath tradition.

The name is derived from the medieval saint, Gorakshanath, a yogi who travelled widely across India and authored a number of texts that form a part of the canon of Nath Sampradaya.