Gujarat: Crocodile strayed inside temple, devotees gather claiming it to be ‘auspicious’

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Mahisagar: In what is seen as a miracle by the people of Palla Village, a crocodile strayed in the premises of Khodiyar Temple during late hours on Sunday. Khodiyar temple worships ‘Khodiya Mata’ or Goddess Khodiyar and crocodile is believed to be her vehicle.

This attracted a large number of devotees to the temple who came to worship the auspicious crocodile. The crocodile strayed in the sanctum sanctorum and sat there until the Forest Department came in to rescue the crocodile.

Devotees allegedly caused a delay in the operation as they didn’t allow forest officials to rescue the crocodile, claiming its presence in the sanctum sanctorum to be ‘auspicious’. The crocodile was rescued on Monday morning by the Mahisagar Forest Department and was released in a pond situated near the temple.

“Crocodile is a giant one as it weighs 17 kg and is 6 feet long. We had a hard time rescuing it as a large number of devotees started worshipping the crocodile. Another problem that we faced while rescuing the crocodile was that the sanctum sanctorum was small in comparison to the crocodile. We have now released him in the nearby pond”, said RV Patel, RFO of Mahisagar forest department.