Gurugram, Apr 21 (IANS): A 57-year-old priest, Ajit Singh alias Joker Nath alias Pujari, and his two associates have been arrested for murdering a Nepali youth here, police said on Friday.

The victim was identified as 24-year-old Dinesh alias Raju and the associates as Sonu alias Seela, 27, and Premjeet alias Sonu Balhara, 32.

According to the police, the incident took place on Wednesday after Dinesh damaged 2-3 fingers of an idol while cleaning it at a temple in Khandsa village.

The deceased body was recovered on Thursday afternoon from the temple premises after Mahesh, a native of Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, who is also an eyewitness in the case alerted the police.

The complainant Mahesh told the police that he had been installing tiles at the temple along with his co-workers for the last few days.

"On Wednesday, a man came to the temple and started cleaning the idols. During this, the fingers of an idol broke and the cleaner informed the priest who got angry and started beating him with a stick. The priest called two other people from nearby and they tied the man to a banyan tree and started beating him badly. When I reached the temple on Thursday afternoon, the man had died," Mahesh told the police.

"The culprits have confessed their involvement in the crime. Based on a complaint given by Mahesh an FIR was registered against the accused under sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC at Sector 10A police in Gurugram," Preet Pal Sangwan, ACP (crime) said.