Tension in Shamshabad after idols damaged at temple

Hyderabad: A tension prevailed in Shamshabad on the city outskirts on Saturday night after miscreants damaged deity idols at a temple. This is the third such incident in Shamshabad mandal in the past week. Following the incident, the police have increased security in the vicinity.

According to the police, a group of miscreants allegedly entered the Pochamma Temple in Jukal village, Shamshabad mandal of Ranga Reddy district, around midnight and damaged three deity idols.

The locals caught one of the individuals involved, thrashed him and handed him over to the police. Local Hindu organisations arrived at the scene and briefly staged a protest, demanding action against the miscreants.

Earlier, on Tuesday morning, November 5, at a temple in Airport Colony, Shamshabad, a priest arrived to perform the pooja and noticed several idols had been damaged. According to the priest, the miscreants reportedly opened the temple gate and damaged the idols with stones.

On the next day, in protest against the vandalism, various Hindu organisations called a bandh in Shamshabad municipality. The people voluntarily observed bandh and demanded the arrest of those responsible for damaging idols of deities in the temple.

They protested and burnt the effigy of the terrorist at the Shamshabad bus stand. They demanded the death penalty for the individual responsible for the desecration and unravelled the conspiracy behind the continuous attacks on the temples in the city.

Protesters also raised slogans against the government for failing to stop the attacks on the temples in the State and wanted an impartial investigation into the continuing attacks.