Two sadhus were murdered inside a temple at Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr on Monday night, allegedly by a man they had berated and accused of theft recently.

The sadhus, 55 and 35, were killed by a man called Raju, the police said. He has been arrested and charged with murder.

Last night, allegedly after taking bhang (cannabis), Raju went into the temple and killed the sadhus. He was found around 2 km from the temple, still high on drugs and in barely any clothes.

The accused claimed it was the will of God," said Ravindra Kumar, a senior government official.

"Raju said he had bhang and then came into the temple and murdered the priests. We asked him about reports he attacked the sadhus with a sword but the accused claims he only used lathis," Mr Kumar told reporters.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked for strict action in the case, which comes days after the mob-killing of two Sadhus and their driver in Maharashtra, which exploded into a political controversy over allegation by a section that it was a communal attack. Maharashtra's Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition denounced what it called attempts to whip up tension in the middle of the coronavirus crisis.

The Uttar Pradesh police have denied anything communal about the Bulandshahr killing. The accused man was still "high" and would be questioned when he was coherent, a police officer said.