On Friday, the Chikmagalur police arrested one person for draping a religious banner on top of the statue of Adi Shankaracharya in the holy city of Sringeri on Thursday,.
Addressing the press conference, Chikmagaluru SP Hakay Akshay Machindra said that they have arrested one accused identified as Milind, son of Manohar for mistakenly draping the flag over the Shankaracharya statue in Sringeri.
The Superintendent of Police Hakay Akshay Machindra also said that the person had mistakenly draped the flag and it was neither a pre-planned incident nor was carried out with any motive. He asserted that the arrested accused was under the influence of alcohol.
“On Wednesday night, Milind got drunk at a bar and then headed towards a mosque in the town and tried to sleep there. Realising that it was a mosque, he did not sleep near the premises and instead picked up a banner to cover himself to protect from the rains. From there, he came near Veerappa Gowda circle and dropped it near the statue of Shankaracharya and slept at the lorry yard” the SP said to the media adding that Milind had visited local government hospital on Thursday morning complaining of a headache.
The police said that he was identified after checking the CCTV footages of the mosque and the bar. The senior police officer also said that the accused confessed to the crime and added that he had done it under the influence of alcohol. No involvement of any organisation or party was found in the incident and the accused is not a member of any party or organisation, the SP said.
Earlier, the police had constituted a special team to investigate the incident of an Islamic flag being placed on the statue of Sankaracharya at Sringeri. The 10-member team has been formed under Chikmagalur and Koppa DySP. The team was formed after many complaints by the Matha’s devotees and former legislators.
Islamic flag draped on the statue of Adi Shankarcharya
We had reported earlier regarding how some miscreants had put up an Islamic flag with text written in Arabic on the statue of Adi Shankaracharya in the holy city of Sringeri.
Following the incident, local residents and leaders had expressed concern, opining that it may be another ploy to stoke communal tensions after the Bengaluru riots. The flag was immediately removed while the devotees of Sharada Peetha gathered at the spot and protested against the attempt to stoke discord in the holy city.
