Unknown miscreants attacked a Hindu temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Agara Mangalam village in Gangadhara Nellore Mandal of Chittoor district.
According to an ANI report, the Nandi idol in the temple was found broken near its pedestal on the Sunday (27 September) morning. The police has started the investigation.
The event comes in a long series of attacks on Hindu temples in Andhra Pradesh. Just this year, several incidents have occurred which brought devotees to the streets in protest.
Idols of Hindu deities were vandalised at the Kali Mandir in Dakkhin Salna area in Gazipur city of Bangladesh, reported Dhaka Tribune.
Speaking on the act of desecration, Gazipur Sadar police station OC Alamgir Hossain Bhuiyan informed that unknown miscreants barged into the temple in the wee hours of the night and desecrated the idols of four Hindu deities. On the following day, Hindu worshippers found the heads of the idols lying on the ground. The police informed that an investigation has been initiated into the matter but no accused has been arrested till now. A police official stated that higher officials had visited the crime scene.
Human rights activist Pradip Chandra posted images of the vandalised idols on Twitter. He wrote, “Attack on a Hindu Temple And vandalized all of the deities at Gazipur, Dhaka, Bangladesh.”
A six-member gang, which was allegedly involved in a series of thefts at temples in Visakhapatnam and in Vizianagaram districts, was arrested by the Vizianagaram police on Sunday. All the accused are aged between 21 and 24 years.
The arrested were identified as T. Veerababu, M. Nagarajuna, M. Dhanaraju, S.. Sai, A. Chiranjeevi and G. Eswara Rao, all hailing from various places in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts. Twenty-seven cases in which the accused were allegedly involved are under Pending Trial (P.T).
Addressing a press conference at the District Police Office here, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Visakha Range) L.K.V. Ranga Rao said that on September 23, unidentified miscreants had entered a temple and stole a hundi. On the same night, they tried to commit a theft at another temple at Dasannapeta. A special team was formed, under the guidance of Mr. Ranga Rao, following the series of temple thefts.
Plans for a temple and community hall made out of shipping containers in Tattenhoe have been recommended for approval at a meeting next week.
Some 470 comments were sent to Milton Keynes Council about the plan for grassland east of St Agnes Way, with 319 writing in support, and 142 against.
There has also been a petition against the scheme signed by more than 700 people, and opposition from Shenley Brook End and Tattenhoe Parish Council.
Objectors claim that the Hindu temple would make traffic problems in the residential area worse, especially when it attracts up to 300 people to occasional events.
As for the shipping container design, council officers say: “Whilst the proposed building and its materials are unconventional it is modern and innovative and consistent with Milton Keynes reputation as an ambitious, forward thinking city.”
A civil suit was filed before the court of civil judge, senior division, Mathura, on behalf of child deity Bhagwan Shri Krishna Virajman, seeking the removal of the Shahi Idgah, adjacent to the Shri Krishna temple complex at Mathura.
Ranjana Agnihotri, a resident of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, has filed the suit.
The UP Sunni Central Waqf Board and the Committee of Management of Trust of Shahi Idgah have been arraigned as defendants in the suit.
The suit seeks recovery of 13.37 acres of land situated within the area of the temple.
The suit claims that the trust, with the help of some Muslims, encroached upon the land belonging to Shri Krishna Janamasthan Trust and the deity, and erected a structure.
It was also claimed that Shri Krishna Janamsthan Seva Sansthan, which is the governing body of the temple complex, entered into an illegal compromise with the Shahi Idgah trust with a view to grab the property in question.
“The Shree Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan is working against the interest of the deity and devotees and fraudulently entered into a compromise with the Committee of Management of Trust Masjid Idgah (Trust) in 1968 conceding a considerable portion of property belonging to the deity and the trust,” the suit said.
The civil judge, Mathura, passed a judgement on the suit regarding the alleged “compromise between the Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan and the Trust” on July 20, 1973.
The present suit has now prayed for “cancelling this judgement”.
What may, however, act as a legal bar to this new suit would be the law passed in 1991: Places of Worship (Special Provisions Act). This law was passed at the height of Ram Janmabhoomi dispute and seeks to protect all religious structures as they existed at the time of Independence with the exception of the disputed site at Ayodhya.
Three priests were found brutally murdered in the courtyard of Sri Arakeshwara Temple at Guttalu on the outskirts of Mandya city on Friday morning.
The bodies of the priests, identified as Ganesh, Prakash and Anand, were found in a pool of blood with their heads crushed with boulders. The bodies were spotted by the villagers after they found the temple door open.
The three used to sleep on the premises for security of the temple and its property, the police stated.Police is suspecting that robbery could be the motive behind these murders as the three hundis were moved outside the temple premises and the offerings, mainly cash, was looted. The emptied kanike hundis (money collection boxes) were found outside the temple.
The killers had managed to escape with the cash in the three hundi boxes leaving behind only coins of various denominations, which are found spilled near hundis. Police said that before escaping, the miscreants also ransacked the sanctum sanctorum of the temple in search of more valuables and cash.
Demanding a CBI inquiry into the 20 attacks on Hindu religion in the State during the last 16 months, the TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu criticised that all these were State-sponsored, in a statement on Wednesday. He alleged that the governance of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy encouraged these attacks on Hindu worship places, including the recent Antarvedi chariot burning.
Naidu referred to how sacred chariots of temples were burnt to ashes while priests were coming under attack even as the propagation of other religions was being allowed under the present management of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams. Even the historic Simhachalam Temple Board was illegally taken over, he said. "Under the tyrannical YSRCP ruling, people of AP are now fearful of a continuous state-sponsored attack on their faiths. More than 20 such attacks have occurred", he said.
From charring of sacred chariots at Antarvedi and Bitragunta to the idols being demolished at Pithapuram, there appears to be a pattern in these incidents. There were also attacks on priests like in the Devarampadu incident. Concerns were there on the propagation of other religions under the management of TTD. On the other hand, there was an illegal takeover of the Simhachalam temple board. In all these aspects, there seems to be a pattern, he added.
The Sacramento Police Department said officers are investigating a burglary that occurred overnight at a Hindu temple in South Sacramento.
Authorities confirmed a man trespassed onto the Hari Om Mandir temple property on La Mancha Way, broke into a car and attempted to enter the temple.
Sacramento police said the temple reported the incident as a hate crime but the department said the investigation is currently moving forward as a burglary investigation.
Officers said they will be looking into the possibility of this being a hate crime.
