Overview
- District magistrate Rajendra Pensiya intervened by phone before a gathered crowd and urged Mahant Rishiraj Giri to confine the plan, prompting the mahant to cancel the long march.
- Organisers had announced a vehicle-to-foot route from Maa Kailadevi Dham with a final 2.5 km circumambulation starting at Motinagar, which has been replaced by a short loop within the temple premises.
- Prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS remain in force, police erected barricades outside the temple, and officers blocked attempts to push past them as thousands assembled.
- Authorities deployed more than 200 RAF and PAC personnel with forces from eight police stations and four circle officers, supported by drones and over 400 CCTV cameras across key routes.
- The mosque committee led by Zafar Ali opposed the circumambulation as an unlawful new practice, the dispute remains before higher and district courts, and last year’s unrest at the site left multiple people dead with reports citing four or five fatalities.