Advani asks temple security to explain second breach in yr

‘‘The CRPF, which is under the administrative control of the MHA, will have a lot of explanation to do. They are responsible for the security of the premises,’’ an official said. Since the police come under the state government, the Deputy PM is planning to take up the matter with Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and also the Director General of Police.

Raghunath temple, situated in the heart of Jammu, is vulnerable to terrorist attack and there were specific orders to strengthen security of the premises, specially in the wake of Akhshardham temple siege in Gandhinagar.

‘‘In fact, Raghunath temple was one of the religious places of which the National Security Guard (NSG) had been asked to carry out a reconnaissance following the Akshardham siege,’’ sources said.

‘‘As per reports of intelligence agencies, terrorists were planning increased number of attacks on religious places. Some places had been identified and NSG was asked to carry out a study of those places so that they didn’t need to waste time like in Akshardham where they had to spend some hours studying the layout of the place before taking on the terrorists,’’ the official added.

Among other places that had been identified were Lakshmi Narain temple, Hanuman Mandir and Bahai’s temple in the capital.

Director General NSG R.S. Mooshahary said that the siege at Raghunath temple did not last long since the premises were not very big and there was not much place for the terrorists to hide unlike in Akshardham. The NSG team of 120 commandoes, led by the DG himself, were all set to leave but they were called back saying that the situation was under control.