Desecration of temples: AP govt alleges conspiracy to disturb communal harmony

Amaravati, Jan 7 PTI The Andhra Pradesh governmenton Thursday claimed there was a clear design and deeperconspiracy to disturb communal harmony in the state byperpetrating crimes like desecration of temples.Addressing a press conference here on Thursday night,Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das and Additional DirectorGeneral of Police Law and Order Ravi Shankar Ayyanar, in thewake of the recent vandalism in some temples in the state,said, prima facie there is some conspiracy because a seriesof incidents are taking place one after the other in variousdistricts, that too in remote places.

Amaravati, Jan 7 (PTI): The Andhra Pradesh governmenton Thursday claimed there was a clear design and deeperconspiracy to disturb communal harmony in the state byperpetrating crimes like desecration of temples.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday night,Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das and Additional DirectorGeneral of Police (Law and Order) Ravi Shankar Ayyanar, in thewake of the recent vandalism in some temples in the state,said, ''prima facie there is some conspiracy because a seriesof incidents are taking place one after the other in variousdistricts, that too in remote places. So it is all, as of now,under investigation.'' ''There is conspiracy...there is a design to disturbcommunal harmony. Every crime has some motive behind it. Themotive in this crime is much deeper. The motive is to disturbthe communal peace of the state,'' Das observed.

''The state which is undertaking a lot of activitiesfor the benefit of the peoplethat activity must be derailed.

That is what is the motive behind these crimes so that we getbusy controlling these kind of things and don't concentrate ondevelopment activities,'' he added.

The Additional DGP said that was precisely the pointthat was under investigation.

The officials' statement came days after ChiefMinister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy termed the desecration oftemples in the state as ''political guerrilla warfare'' andwondered who would benefit by such acts.

The technical data as well as the field level data wasbeing gathered as part of the investigation in the cases thathappened so far.

''There is one such case which has come to light wherethe electric saw was recovered. It was used in two incidents,one in Krishna district and one in Rajamahendravaram, todesecrate temples. This is one such fact that has emergedwhere the tool was used at two places. Like this many morefacets may come out,'' Ayyanar said.

The Chief Secretary noted that the recent incidents ofdesecration of temples not only brought a bad name to thestate but also caused grave concern in the administration.

''It has also made us realise that constant vigil isnecessary to maintain the spirit of togetherness and communalharmony in our state. So we have now constituted CommunalHarmony Committees at the state and the district levels totake up confidence building measures and promote communalharmony in the state,'' he said.

Besides the top officials headed by the ChiefSecretary himself, the state-level committee would have onerepresentative from each religion as members.

The district-level committee would be headed by therespective Collector and District Magistrate, Das said.

The committees have been formed to arrest the evildesigns of conspirators.

''They will interact with the people. They will visitplaces where incidents occur. This is something where thesociety, everybody must get involved, not just for the policeto investigate,'' the Chief Secretary remarked.

Replying to a question, the Additional DGP said so faronly six persons were arrested in cases related to desecrationof temples.

As many as 38 cases of vandalism of temple idols werereported in the state since June 2019, including three so farthis year.

''Five of those cases were found to be false whilethere were no clues in 10 other cases,'' Ayyanar said.

''The technical data and the evidence found at thecrime scene...all being compiled and being investigated by ateam leader. All data is being compiled and given to the CrimeInvestigation Department,'' Ayyanar added.PTI DBV SSPTI PTI