Police in Andhra Pradesh’s Dr B R Ambedkar Konaseema district have arrested Seelam Srinivas from Thotapeta village for vandalising a Shivalinga on the premises of the historic Draksharamam temple complex late Monday night. The Shivalinga, located on the stairs of the temple pond, was found damaged on Tuesday morning by devotees, following which police registered a case under Sections 298 and 324(4) of BNS and examined footage from 50 CCTV cameras across five police teams before making the arrest.
District SP Rahul Meena stated that Srinivas, a B Com graduate who makes tools like hammers for a living, was involved in a personal dispute with his neighbor, Kalaganda Suribabu, a priest who constructed a drain outside his house that allowed water to flow in front of Srinivas’s residence. Angered by this and subsequent arguments, Srinivas allegedly vandalised the Shivalinga with a hammer with the intention of damaging the priest’s reputation, as he had seen Suribabu performing pujas to the Lingam at the temple pond.
Police noted that the accused claims to be a devotee of Lord Shiva and has tattoos of a Shivalinga, Lord Vishnu, and ‘Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya’ on his shoulder, yet allegedly committed the act out of personal vendetta. Srinivas had earlier damaged the stairs and compound wall of a lawyer’s house after the lawyer, despite charging Rs 3,000, failed to resolve a land dispute for him.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, currently abroad, called Endowments Minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy late Tuesday night to enquire about the incident, and was informed that a new Shivalinga was consecrated in place of the vandalised one. The minister directed officials to increase security in temple precincts to prevent such incidents.
