Abohar, July 10

An ex-serviceman, who had been working as priest in Hanuman Mandir near the bus stand in Nagrana village in Hanumangarh, was found killed on Sunday.Preliminary investigation indicated that Surmukh Singh, formerly of the Sikh Regiment and native of Manupur village of Samrala sub-division in Ludhiana district, had deserted the Army following the 1984 riots. After court-martial proceedings, his services were terminated.In 1995, he took over as priest at the Hanuman Mandir and was known as Pujari Somgiri. Yesterday, three youths found his blood-stained body on a bed in the open at the temple complex and informed the police. His mobile phone was missing. When a constable dialled his phone number, a person responded and confessed to having killed the priest. He said that 20 persons, including the priest, were witness to his accident in 2012, but none helped him.“I have decided to kill all of them,” the man reportedly warned. — OC