Bengaluru police on Sunday, January 8, arrested Munikrishna, the trustee of the Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in the Amruthahalli locality for assaulting a woman in the temple premises. The incident which took place on December 21 was captured on CCTV cameras, and the visuals were later shared on social media, causing widespread outrage. The video showed the woman being repeatedly assaulted, held by the hair, and dragged outside the temple by a man.
Hemavathi, the survivor, had lodged a complaint with Amruthahalli police station on Thursday, January 4, stating that the incident occurred on December 21. According to the police, the survivor Hemavathy belongs to a Backward classes community called Thigala.
According to the FIR registered by the police, Munikrishna assaulted the survivor and went on to verbally abuse her. ”Who allowed you inside the temple? Who are you, a person belonging to a lower caste? You didn’t even take a bath,” are the questions Munikrishna asked the survivor, according to her complaint. She also added that the temple trustee assaulted her by holding her hair and dragging her outside the temple.
Munikrishna had told the police that Hemavathy had claimed that Lord Venkateshwara was her husband and wanted to sit next to the idol in the sanctum sanctorum, but when her demand was rejected, she spat on the priest. Munikrishna alleged that he was forced to drag Hemavathy out of the temple after she refused to leave peacefully. However, the police have stated that the investigation into the incident is ongoing and that the accused will be arrested soon. Guruprasad, the inspector of Amruthahalli police station, said that the police are working to gather all the necessary evidence and witnesses in order to build a strong case against the accused.