Etawah (UP), Jul 11 (PTI) The body of of 17-year-old 'mahant' of a temple was found hanging near the temple campus on the Bharthana-Usrahar road here on Tuesday, police said.

'Bal mahant' Puranmal Das was found hanging from a tree near the temple premises in the morning, Bharthana Station House Officer (SHO) Bhupendra Singh Rathi said.

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Mahant Puranmal's parents had died at a young age and seeing his interest and involvement in the spirituality he was made the mahant of the temple.

He was taking care of the temple, worshipping, reciting aarti and performing rituals. Last month, Katha Bhagwat was also organized under his supervision, the SHO said.

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The police have sent the body for post-mortem and the case is being investigated.

(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)