Hanuman idol desecrated at Andheri

They swore not to end the dharna till the culprits were caught. “If the police cannot catch them, the sainiks will,” said one of the speakers. They were also upset over policestatement that the culprit in all probability was insane. “If he was insane, how did he execute the job so meticulously breaking only the lock and damaging only the statue,” argued Mistry.

Father Swami of the Holy Cross High School, just across the road from the temple, also sat in the dharna for sometime and condemned the attack. “More than 75 per cent of the students in my school are Hindus and I don’t believe in casteism,” he said trying to pacify the crowd.

The damaged idol has been seized by the MIDC police. They said the incident took place between 3.15 am and 3.30 am. Bhiku Kurade, temple’s resident priest, said his son, Sunil saw the man who damaged the idol. Sunil was sleeping outside the temple when he heard a loud thud and saw somebody hammering the statue. On raising an alarm, the intruder dropped his hammer and tried to flee. He was followed by Sunil and two policemen who were patrolling the area but he disappeared in the Mulaon Dongri slums. Another smaller idol too was damaged.

Seniorpolice inspector N M Dhengale said Kurade was advised a fortnight back to install a iron-grill door to the temple and station a guard at night. Kurade, however, explained that he did not have funds to do all this. “I went to the market to buy an iron-grill door and was told that it will cost Rs 12,000. So I postponed the idea for a couple of months. But I did change the lock of the glass door,” he explained in a chocked voice.

As the news of the desecration spread rumour mills went into overdrive. `The desecration is a handiwork of ISI and a curfew has been imposed in the suburbs’ was one of the many rumours doing rounds.

A case under Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered. The section pertains to harming and insulting religious sentiments of a community. Till late afternoon no arrests had been made.