Ahmedabad, Jan 22: A sadhu belonging to the Nath sampraday(cult) today attacked eight persons at the Neelkanth Mahadev temple in a village in Sanand taluka killing four and injuring four others, before hanging himself from the spire atop the dome of the temple.

On Saturday night there were preparations going on in the temple for the prasad to be distributed to devotees the next day.

Five sadhus had come to the temple on Saturday. While the villagers left for their homes in Iyawa village at around 2 am, three youths slept inside the temple.

On Sunday at around 5 am, when a youth Mahavirsingh Jadeja opened his eyes, he found the sadhu Dharam Nath pouring kerosene on people sleeping and trying to set them on fire.

As Mahavir shouted, the sadhu attacked him with an iron rod, and he continued to slam the iron road on the heads of sleeping people.

Sadhu Dharam Nath then came out, climped the spire of the temple  and hanged himself to death.

The entire village rushed to the scene of crime, and the injured were rushed to V S Hospital, Ahmedabad.

Mahant Somnathji, the youth Mahavir Jadeja, Rajdeep Vaghela and another sadhu are injured and  are undergoing treatment, while three sadhus who had come from outside and a local villager Prithviraj Vaghela died in the attack.

Villagers said they had heard the sadhu Mahant Dharam Nath muttering "jala doonga, maar doonga" several times in recent days, but ignored it as one of his tantrums.

Police believe the sadhu was mentally unstable which led to the slayings. There was no dispute relating to the temple, villagers said.