A bench led by Chief Justice M K Sharma took stern exception to the conduct of the priest in the alleged sale. It observed the accused had sold temple property to his relatives, who in turn sold it to “innocent persons”, despite knowing that the land had already been acquired by the government for public purposes.

“You came to us (the court) with unclean hands. You have suppressed certain facts,” the court observed. A legal representative of the priest had appealed to the bench following a single bench’s direction on December 12, asking the Economic Offences Wing to register an FIR against him and four others. The single bench had also not taken lightly to the priest misleading the court on the facts of the case and had slapped a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh on him.

Challenging the December court order, the priest submitted that the single bench had issued the directions for filing of the FIR without necessarily explaining reasons behind it.