TIRUPATI: Tirupati Urban police on Tuesday cracked the case of unauthorised installation of idols on the premises of Srikalahasti temple by arresting three persons. The accused were identified as Pindi Sulavardhan (32), Pindi Tirumalaiah (30) and Pindi Munisekhar (28) of Puttur town in Chittoor district.
It may be recalled that the temple authorities had found a Shivalingam and the Lord’s carrier Nandi on the temple premises on September 11.
After performing Samprokshanam at the temple, executive officer (EO) C Chandrasekhar Reddy filed a complaint with Srikalahasti One Town police. Based on the complaint, the police registered a case and started investigation. Urban Superintendent of Police (SP) Avula Ramesh Reddy formed special teams to nab the culprits.
The teams verified the footage of over 100 CCTV cameras installed inside and outside the temple complex, but remained clueless as to who had installed the idols. “On September 6, they found three persons moving suspiciously outside the temple complex and nabbed them after tracing them through their mobile data,” Ramesh Reddy said.
The SP said Tirumalaiah and Munisekhar, who were addicted to vices, went to an astrologer, who advised them to install idols in the temple for a change in fortune. To install the idols inside the Srikalahasti temple, they contacted an idol maker from Rajeev Colony in Tirupati on September 2 for making the idols. They paid him Rs 4,000 for the Shivalingam and Rs 3,000 for the Nandi idol. Later, they reached the temple and installed them on the premises without obtaining permission from the authorities, Ramesh Reddy said.
One held for damaging Hanuman idol
Kakinada: Police on Tuesday arrested one person for damaging the idol of Lord Hanuman at Yeleswaram. The accused was identified as Korimi Venkataramana (50), a lorry driver. Venkataramana is addicted to alcohol and deserted his wife and children a few years ago. According to police, on September 16, Venkataramana damaged the idol of Lord Hanuman located near a gym. Based on the complaint filed by gym owner Kanna Rao, Yeleswaram police registered a case and took up investigation. Acting on a tip-off, police arrested the accused. During interrogation, Venkataramana had confessed to the crime