Attacks on temples:Most offences committed by treasure trove

Investigation into attacks onsome temples in Andhra Pradesh has revealed that most offenceswere committed by treasure trove hunters, believers insuperstition, drunkards and others,Director General of PoliceD G Sawang said on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference at the State PoliceHeadquarters at Mangalagiri, the DGP said out of the 44 templeoffences in 2020 and 2021, 15 cases remained yet unresolved.

''In all, we have so far arrested 80 people involvedin these offences and rounded up 1,635 templeoffenders. Another 2,979 'communal suspects' were also roundedup,'' the DGP said.

Attacks on some temples in the state, wherein theidols were desecrated and temple chariots were burnt,triggered a major row with opposition parties blaming the Y SJagan Mohan Reddy government of failing to protect thereligious places.

The Chief Minister, however, hit out at theopposition saying the attacks on temples were part of a''conspiracy and political guerrilla warfare'' against hisgovernment to disrupt the welfare agenda.

The DGP, who is also under attack from variousquarters for failing to protect the temples and bringing theguilty to book, asserted that they have initiated elaboratesteps to prevent such attacks on places of worship.

''In six cases of desecration of temple idols, it wasfound that treasure trove hunters were responsible and we havearrested 42 offenders in this connection.'' ''In one case (in Kurnool), one person was arrestedfor desecrating a temple idol to divert attention from anissue in which two political groups entered into a quarrel,''the DGP said.

In three cases, the idols were desecrated to ''settlescores over dispute of ownership (of land).'' Six persons were arrested in these cases.

In another three cases, superstitious beliefs led tovandalism in temples, Sawang pointed out, adding five peoplewere arrested.

In one case in Anantapuramu district, some wildanimals damaged the idol of Lord Hanuman.

In four cases, drunkards gained entry into templesand damaged the idols in Kurnool, Krishna and East Godavaridistricts.

''We have arrested 14 people so far in these caseswhile another accused will be arrested soon,'' the DGP added.

Sawang said a person of unsound mind set the templechariot on fire in SPS Nellore district while another mentallyill person damaged the idols in a temple in Visakhapatnamdistrict.

Both were arrested.

In seven instances, the DGP said, some statuesand idols were found damaged because of ''wear and tear''.

Nine people, including some journalists, who indulgedin ''false propaganda'' over these incidents were arrested.

''Some more accused in these cases have to bearrested,'' he said.

There were two cases in which the idols got damagedaccidentally but a false propaganda was launched in theseinstances as well.

''In one case (in Kurnool district), we arrested thetemple priest, two trustees and two journalists for falsepropaganda,'' the DGP said.

''There are 15 major cases that still remainundetected, including the chariot burning case in Antarveditemple, desecration of Lord Ramas idol at Ramateertham,damage of Sai Baba idol in Vijayawada, desecration of LordRama and Sitas idols in Dwaraka Tirumala.'' ''We have entrusted the Antarvedi case to the CBI,which is yet to take up the investigation,'' the DGP said.

He said 58,871 religious places across the statehave been mapped and 43,824 closed-circuit television camerashave been installed in 13,089 of them.

So far, 15,394 village defence squads have beenformed while another 7,862 would soon be constituted.

''We have accorded top priority to completeinvestigation in undetected cases and special teams have beenformed under the respective unit officers,'' Sawang said.

A control with a mobile phone 9392903400 was beingset up to enable people to pass on any information related totemple offences.PTI DBV BNWELCOME BNWELCOME