On the intervening night of January 31 and February 1, a Shiva temple in the Guna district of Madhya Pradesh was found vandalised. The idols, a shivalingam and nandi were uprooted and thrown outside the temple.
The incident angered the Hindu community who demanded immediate arrest of the culprits.
On February 1, based on a complaint from one Saurabh, police lodged an FIR against seven Muslims – Anwar Khan, Bafati, Shahrukh, Bittu, Raees, Zeeshan and Rehan.
Five out of the seven were arrested. They were presented before the sub-divisional magistrate and were sent to jail.
According to Quint, Anwar Khan is a journalist, Raees runs a grocery shop, Bafati has a chicken shop, Zeeshan is a class 12 student and Rehaan is a driver.
Accused turns out to be Hindu
However, it turned out that the Shiva temple was vandalised by a drunken Hindu man who was angry about his impending marriage status.
On February 10, police arrested the main accused – Gyarsa, a native of Bamauri – who confessed to damaging the temple and the idols inside it.
According to his statement recorded during the interrogation, Gyarsa was angry that even after praying so many times, he was not getting married. Angered, he went to the temple in an inebriated state and vandalised it.
In a press release, the Guna police confirmed the incident and said, “On the night of January 31, he (the accused) had consumed too much alcohol, due to which he got angry and at around 2 o’clock in the night, he picked up a stone lying outside the temple and threw it on the idols of Lord Shiva and Nandi, due to which the idols got damaged. It was broken.”
