A scuffle broke out between devotees in Vijayawada and police officials from the One Town police station over carrying the processional deities of the Kanaka Durga temple atop Indrakeeladri on Tuesday.
According to reports, the police have always the began the event by breaking a coconut, and taking the idol procession to their police station before handing it over to temple priests.
However, the temple officials began the ceremony without the police this year, which irked the policemen, who stopped the procession.
The Hindu reported:
The police argued with the priests that they should handover the idols immediately after bringing down from Indrakeeladri. For which the temple priests and Executive Officer A. Suryakumari stoutly disagreed. The Devasthanam authorities argued that the idols would be handed over only after teppotsaam was concluded. The police, however, stuck to their stand demanding control over the idols even during the procession.
The report adds that the issue was resolved after higher ups in the police department intervened.
The argument also resulted in delay in Teppotsavam.