Protesters block highway over temple desecration

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 16

Angered over the desecration of a lingam and theft of silver ornaments adorning it at Shivpuri temple in Khanna, Hindu outfits along with hundreds of residents blocked the Delhi-Amritsar national highway in Khanna on Thursday. Long queues of vehicles were noticed on the highway for over five hours. Commuters faced huge inconvenience.

The protest was lifted only after Deputy Inspector General (Ludhiana Range) Dhanpreet Kaur and Khanna SSP Ashwini Gotyal, after much struggle, assured the protesters that the suspects would be arrested by Sunday.

Ludhiana MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Sukhbir Badal had also reached the protest site to support the demonstrators. Both leaders raised questions over the law and order situation in the state.

As the protesters had alleged Khanna City SHO Inspector Rao Varinder Singh had misbehaved and even abused them when they had gone to meet the officer to seek arrest of the suspects, DIG Kaur, on their demand, considering the allegations serious, immediately suspended the SHO in front of them.

The theft incident that took place on the intervening night of August 14-15 was also captured in CCTV cameras in which two thieves are visible. Thieves first removed the silver ornaments from the lingam and then uprooted it. Thieves could be seen damaging the lingam by hitting it with iron rod and hammer repeatedly.

After this, they broke the lock and stole the crown of Lord Hanuman’s idol. They also stole gold and silver jewellery from other idols and fled. The value of the stolen ornaments was said to be around Rs 20 lakh. The incident came to light when the temple was opened on August 15 morning.

A case against the unknown thieves was registered by the Khanna police. Sources said some suspects have also been rounded up by the police but the personnel remained mum on the development.

Two temples targeted in 10 days in Khanna

Samrala police had booked unidentified accused after silver ornaments were stolen from a lingam at a Shiva temple in Samrala on August 6. Dhirendra Shastri, the temple priest, had told the police that the incident had come to fore on August 6 morning when he entered the temple and was shocked to see that the silver leaf weighing 750 gm was missing from the lingam. The police had arrested the accused, identified as Jagjit Singh of Otalan and Gurjit Singh of Mahoun road in Khanna, in this case.