VELLORE: The police have stepped up security in and around the Arunachaleswarar temple in Tiruvannamalai where a large number of devotees throng to offer prayer.
Two-tier security has been put in place with cops belonging to bomb detection and disposal squad (BDDS) frisking the visitors at the major entry points at the gopurams.
The police are using hand-held metal detector to scan the visitors and their baggage before allowing them to walk into the temple.
“Two-tier security has been provided to the temple. All the visitors are being frisked at the entry and exit points around the three gopurams,” Superintendent of Police (SP) MR Sibi Chakravarthy told Express on Saturday.
He added that a contingent of forty policemen have been pressed into service to guard the temple which is one of the major pilgrimage centres in northern Tamil Nadu.
A considerable number of foreigners are also camping in the temple town.
The premises of the temple is also brought under the surveillance of the police.
Sibi Chakravarthy informed that a baggage scanner is being established at Kili gopuram and it will be ready in two or three days. Since then, the baggage of visitors to the temple would thoroughly be scanned before moving them inside the temple.