MYSURU: KR Nagar police have registered a case against artist and temple manager after images of a green mosque and a red cross were found painted on the inner wall of Sri Meenakshi Sametha Arkeshwara Temple at Hale Yedatore, on the outskirts of KR Nagar town in Mysuru district.
The temple comes under the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Department. The paintings came to light after a social media post went viral, triggering an official inquiry into the circumstances under which the images were drawn on the temple wall.
Following the discovery, KR Nagar tahsildar G Surendramurthy lodged a complaint with the police against the artist and the temple manager. The police are expected to investigate the circumstances surrounding the paintings and establish the roles of those named in the complaint.
Tahsildar Surendramurthy said officials visited the temple after receiving information about the paintings. He said the inspection was conducted in the presence of police personnel. “Upon learning of the matter, we visited the spot along with police officials and conducted a panchanama. Both the images were immediately erased to restore the temple’s wall,” Surendramurthy said.
The case has brought the temple’s wall paintings under scrutiny, with the police investigation expected to establish how the images came to be painted and whether any lapses occurred in the supervision of the temple premises.