The Pashupatinath Temple shooting was a

mass murder Mass murder is the violent crime of murder, killing a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location where one or more ...

that occurred at the

Pashupatinath Temple Shri Pashupatinātha Temple () is a revered Hindu temple dedicated to Pashupati, a manifestation of the god Śiva. Located on the banks of the sacred Bagmati River in Kathmandu, Nepal, the temple is one of the oldest and most significant religiou ...

and its surrounding area in

Mandsaur Mandsaur is a city and a municipality in Mandsaur district located on the border of Mewar and Malwa regions of Madhya Pradesh, a state in Central India. It is the administrative headquarters of Mandsaur District. The ancient Pashupatinath Tem ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

on 23 July 1983. Ramesh Sharma, a 28-year-old police constable killed 14 people and wounded nine others, before he was shot and killed by police.Law and Order - Cop guns down 13 in temple
'' Data India''; Press Institute of India, 1983.

Events

Preceding

On 23 July 1984, Ramesh Sharma was on guard duty at Pashupatinath temple on a round the clock vigil with four colleagues. He was said to have been acting normal during the day. 15 minute before the shooting had occurred, Sharma casually entered the tea shop adjacent to the temple, drank tea and shared photos of the temple.The Killer Constable
''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...

'' (Volume 8)

Shooting

At about 7:30 p.m., Sharma entered a tea shop adjacent to the temple, armed with a

Lee–Enfield The Lee–Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the standard service rifle of th ...

rifle and his pockets filled with cartridges. He aimed his rifle at the shop owner's nephew, Pradeep, and asked him "Should I shoot you?", before killing him. Sharma next shot at Rakesh Jain, owner of an idol shop at the temple, hitting him in the shoulder. While Jain stumbled into the nearby Hanuman temple, Motia Bai, owner of another shop in the area, started shouting at Sharma angrily. Sharma shot dead both Motia and her son Hari while he ate dinner, before turning his attention back to Jain. After taking off his shoes he entered the temple and shot Jain at point-blank range through his abdomen. Sharma then put his shoes back on and left. Outside he was approached by another policeman posted at the temple that evening, Kanhaiyalal Dube, who wanted to calm him down. Before Dube could intervene, Sharma shot him dead. The gunman then entered the Pashupatinath temple where an

aarti ''Arti'' () or ''Aarati'' () is a Hindu ritual employed in worship, part of a ''Puja (Hinduism), puja'', in which light from a flame (fuelled by camphor, ghee, or oil) is ritually waved to venerate Hindu deities, deities. ''Arti'' also refers t ...

, attended by about 60 people, had just begun. Sharma fired a few shots at the

pilgrim The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

s, wounding several of them, before shouting to halt the aarti, though the priest, Ramachandra Shukla, apparently unaware of what was going on, raised his hand to silence him. Sharma killed the priest by shooting him in his arm and head. At around 7:45 p.m. Sharma left the temple area and headed towards the town, where he killed another seven people in the streets. Police by then were already notified, but it took them another 40 minutes to stop the gunman. At about 8:20 p.m. Sharma was engaged by policeman Mewa Lai. He fired a shot at the officer that missed its target and killed an 18-year-old woman named Sakina. Mewa Lai then returned fire and killed Sharma with a shot in the chest. Within 50 minutes Sharma had fired 34 rounds, killing 14 people and injuring nine others; one cartridge remained in the chamber of his rifle, while another 35 were found in his pockets.

References

{{coord missing, Madhya Pradesh Mass murder in 1983 Spree shootings in India Mandsaur Crime in Madhya Pradesh July 1983 in India 1983 murders in India 20th-century mass murder in India 1980s in Madhya Pradesh 1983 mass shootings in Asia Attacks on Hindu temples in India Attacks on buildings and structures in 1983 Murders by law enforcement officers Killings by law enforcement officers in India Attacks on shops in India