Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Temple demolished, Palani village tense

By Our Staff Reporter

PALANI SEPT. 9. Tension prevailed at Vilvadhapatti, near here, following demolition of a Vinayakar temple, located in a panchayat primary school in the village, in the wee hours today. A 300-strong police force including armed reserve personnel was posted at the spot.

An unidentified mob pulled down the temple, constructed by a group in April last year despite protests by another section of people, and threw the idol into an abandoned well.

Cases were filed against 30 persons but fire service personnel could not find the idol in the slushy well.

Meanwhile, the district revenue officer, N. Jayaraman conducted an inquiry. After hectic parleys at a peace committee meeting, Mr. Jayaraman and A. Jawahar Chandrasekaran, Superintendent of Police, convinced the rival groups and permitted reconstruction of the temple at its original place. They also assured stern action against persons preventing the rebuilding of the shrine. The panchayat administration should fence the land allocated for temple construction, it was decided.

There had been minor skirmishes between the two groups ever since one section, despite stiff protest, constructed the temple and installed the Vinayakar idol on April 17, 2002 and started offering worshipping there. The other section informed the panchayat that it would also construct a temple on the school premises.

On July 27 this year, the two groups clashed with each other. Cases were filed against 43 persons belonging to both groups under Section 107 (abetment) of the IPC.

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