VHP demands CoD probe to find out truth behind 'Church desecration'

Mangalore, November 5: Brushing aside the allegations of the role of Hindutva outfits in the desecration of St Alphonsa Catholic Church in the city, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal on Saturday demanded a CoD probe to find out the truth behind the Thursday night's incident.

Addressing the media persons at VHP office here, Jagadish Shenava, vice-president of the city unit of VHP, lamented that there has been a conspiracy to tarnish the image of Hindutva organisations by holding them responsible for any kind of untoward incidents in Churches.

Referring to a local Kannada eveninger's report which claims that one of the sisters in the church had illicit relationship with the man who was arrested on charges of vandalizing the Church property, Mr Shenava said that the evninger's version seems to be truth.

“It is very unfortunate that there has been an effort to cover up the fact by blaming VHP and Bajrang Dal for this incident. The attitude of city police too arises suspicion as far as this case is concerned”, he said.

“We hereby demand the government to order a CoD probe to lay bare the truth behind this incident”, he reiterated.

Mr Shenava also demanded that the allegations of the illicit activity in Church proved true, police should not hesitate to take legal action against the concerned people.

He also said that M Shibu, the person accused in the incident of desecration of Church, was not a Hindu. “He was a converted Christian and also was a regular visitor to the same Church”, he said.

Mr Shenava said that he received a bad information from someone that Mangalore East Police have taken aVHP activist identified as Dinesh on Saturday into custody for questioning in connection with the same case. “I urge the police to find out the fact, instead of arresting innocent Hindus”, he said.

Manohar Tulajaram, President, VHP, Mangalore, and Gopal Kuttar, General Secretary were also present in the press meet.

Police Custody

Meanwhile, the second judicial magistrate first class court here on Saturday remanded Shibu to three days of police custody.

City Police earlier produced the accused before the magistrate at the latter's residence late on Friday and he was remanded to judicial custody. Police moved an application seeking his custody in open court on Saturday.