Six persons, including four school students from a Dalit community, were arrested for allegedly destroying stone engravings at Sundara Naachiyaramman Temple in Kadaneri here on Wednesday. The engravings reportedly bore the names of some Caste Hindu people.
Policemen were deployed in huge strength to maintain peace in the village.
The arrested Dalit youths filed a counter complaint stating that the Caste Hindus had abused and assaulted one of them.
Police said they arrested Gopia alias Kumarasen (19), a construction worker, and Kalasalingam (18), son of Dharmar, a tractor driver, on charges of damaging the stone engravings in the temple. In connection with the same case, they picked up four school students.
Police said that the youths first attempted to damage the engravings on December 7 but failed.
They once again entered the temple on December 9 with crowbars and destroyed three structures.
Since the temple was kept closed, the villager did not know about the incident till Tuesday evening. However, an individual from a Caste Hindu community reportedly overheard a conversation among the Dalit youths and informed the other members of his community. The village head S Kasi Naickar went inside the temple with three others and found the stone carvings damaged. They lodged a complaint with the Nathampatti Police who registered a case and arrested the six accused.
Meanwhile, Kalasalingam, one of the arrested persons, filed a counter complaint at the police station against a group of Caste Hindus stating that they had manhandled Kumarasen. He said that they found the Sundara Naachiyaramman Temple locked on Tuesday when they went there for prayers.