Gorakhpur: A plot to blow up the Gorakhnath temple complex by Pakistani terrorists has been unearthed by the district police following which security has been beefed up in and around the shrine, a senior police official said on October 5.

A Pakistani terrorist nabbed recently by the special task force (STF) revealed during interrogation that they were planning to blow up the temple complex and target local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) Yogi Adityanath, the heir of Goraksh Peeth, superintendent of police (city) Govind Agarwal said.

The Uttar Pradesh government has directed the district police to beef up the security for Gorakhnath temple complex to prevent repetition of an incident like the one at Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar, he said.

Besides police, intelligence sleuths in plain clothes have been deployed with sophisticated weapons to guard the temple complex, he said, adding women police personnel were also being deployed to check women visitors at the main gate.

For Yogi Aditya Nath, who is in the hitlist of Pakistani terrorists for his anti- Muslim stance, an escort van was being provided besides a shadow and a gunner, the SP said.

PTI