Idols vandalised

They were being made for temple on museum premises

Tension prevailed at Malekal Tirupati temple near Arsikere on Monday evening after miscreants allegedly vandalised idols of deities being made for a museum on the temple premises.

A group of people allegedly entered the museum and broke the idols, when nobody was around. The incident came to light only when the workers returned to the museum and noticed idols broken.

Sridhar Murthy, a resident of Arsikere, had shown interest to set up a museum to place idols of deities on the temple premises. He had hired sculptors for the work. As many as 13 idols, some of which were in the finishing stage, were vandalszed by the miscreants.

Hassan SP R. Srinivasa Gowda and other senior officers visited the spot and ordered for deployment of policemen at the site to avoid any untoward incident. Pro-Hindu activists of Arsikere have urged the administration to arrest the people involved in the incident.

Arsikere MLA K.M. Shivalinge Gowda said he had asked the police to arrest the accused immediately. “No matter whoever was involved in the crime, the accused should be punished”, he said.

Arsikere Rural Police have registered a case.