BOTAD: Police have arrested three persons for allegedly vandalising and defacing murals depicting Lord Hanuman kneeling before Sahajanand Swami, a saint belonging to the Swaminarayan sect, at a temple in Gujarat's Botad district, an official said on Sunday.
One of the accused, identified as Harshad Gadhvi, was in a viral video seen vandalising the controversial murals at the temple located at Salangpur in the district.
Two others -- Jaisinh Bharwad and Baldev Bharwad -- were his associates who accompanied him to the venue, said Superintendent of Police Kishor Baloliya.
A few months ago, the temple management installed a 54-foot statue of Lord Hanuman in the religious premises.
The wall of its pedestal is covered in murals, at least two of which created controversy for showing Lord Hanuman paying obeisance to Sahajanand Swami.
Notably, the Swaminarayan sect, which is divided in several factions, refers to Sahajanand Swami (1781-1830) as Lord Swaminarayan.
Prima facie, Gadhvi managed to make his way to the statue through the barricades and allegedly used a heavy rod to strike and vandalise the murals and blackened them before the police detained him on Saturday.
His act was captured in a video, which has gone viral.
The three accused were arrested on Saturday night under provisions of the Indian Penal Code sections 295 (A) (outraging religious feelings), 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, etc), 506 (2) (criminal intimidation) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), an official from Barwala police station said.
The incident took place days after some Hindu religious leaders demanded removal of the controversial murals.
Meanwhile, security was tightened around the temple.
Devotees gathered outside the religious premises on Sunday as they were not allowed to go inside to offer prayers.
Some of them held banners to protest against the depiction in the murals.
One of the controversial murals showed Lord Hanuman kneeling in front of Lord Swaminarayan with hands put together, as if he is the latter's disciple.
Noted preacher Morari Bapu had protested against the depiction in the murals without naming anybody and urged people to "speak up."
Dilipdasji Maharaj of Ahmedabad's Lord Jagannath temple also said no one should indulge in such acts which demean a religion.
A delegation of religious leaders on Thursday handed over a memorandum to the Botad collector, demanding the mural be removed.