Thomas (Special correspondent)
Unidentified Miscreants vandalised statue of st.antony at the church situated in Sosaipalya in Chikkaballapura on Thursday mornings.
A parishioner reported the damage caused to a statue of St Antony before a police complaint was lodged.
According to the complaint, a large stone was found inside an enclosure where the statue was kept at the 150-year-old church. Police said they have begun an investigation.
The incident came to light when few people visited the church and notice the statue vandalised and informed the perish priest.
The priest inturn informed the police and filed a complaint.The police have initiated investigation to identify the people.
The police also stepped up patrolling at the religious places across the district to ensure law and order .
Senior officer as, Chikkaballapur SP,Mithun Kumar GK with Other officers visited the spot and after inspecting the area he said,The Chikkaballapura police inspector formed three special teams to track down the vandals who damaged St,Antony statue put up on roadside near rangadhama lake in soosai palya in Chikkaballapur district on Thursday.
He even directed the police to intensify the patrolling and to give security cover to the other religious places and statues in and around the district
Based on the complaint filed by J Antony Daniel, the parish priest of the temple, the Chikkaballapura rural police have registered a case against the unknown persons charging them under section 295 (destruction,damage,or defilement of a place of worship or an object held sacred,with intent to insult the religion of a class of persons),153A (offence of promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language),120B (criminal conspiracy ) and 427 (mischief causing damage) of IPC and also under various sections of Prevention of damage to public property act.
The special team have initiated investigations and gathering details about the incidents to identify the accused.The police have some clues on the incident which is being probed, a police officer,said .
This is the 11 incidents of attacks on churches across the state since September this year .
