The Kerala police have warned strict action against anyone spreading false messages on social media regarding the case of desecration of a temple in Nilambur on Friday night.
The police on Sunday arrested Mohan Kumar SS, a native of Kilimanoo in Thiruvananthapuram in connection with partly damaging the Sree Villoth Maha Temple at Pookkottumpadam near Nilambur and vandalizing some of the idols.
According to the police, Mohan Kumar has confessed to the crime. He has been booked under IPC Section 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion) and section 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), reports Deccan Chronicle.
The accused entered the temple after removing the tiles on the roof-top. District police Chief Debesh Kumar Behra said that his role in the vandalisation of the temple was verified after examining finger prints, reports Times of India.
Following the temple desecration, many posts had come up on social media insinuating that this had been ‘an attack on Hindus’ and some had connected it to beef fests that were going on in the state in opposition to the central government’s new rules regarding slaughter.
However, the police are also investigating if the man who travelled to Nilambur to commit the crime had a criminal past. Police sources say he is an accused in a murder that happened 11 years ago.
He has also confessed to other crimes including an attack on a temple in Vaniyambalam in Thiruvananthapuram a few months ago, according to the police.
Mohanan was absconding after the murder of 70-year-old Kamalakshi Amma. The senior citizen’s body was recovered from a temple pond in Thiruvananthapuram in 2006.