In what could stir a huge row, a man was "beaten to death by a mob after an alleged sacrilege attempt at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the police said on Saturday," repoprts ndtv.com.

The man was climbing over the railing inside the Golden Temple during the evening prayer and made an attempt to to touch the sword in front of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs. "He was stopped and killed by those present," ndtv.com added.

TV footage shows people trying to stop the man

Desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib is a serious issue in among Sikhs who consider the holy book as their 11th guru. Sacrilege was one of the contentious issues distancing former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh from state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu that eventually led to the resignation of the former.