The Srirangam Police have registered a case and launched investigation into a complaint lodged by Rangarajan Narasimhan of Srirangam, a petitioner in the alleged idol theft case in the shrine, that he was assaulted and abused by a group of persons inside the Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple premises on Friday night.
The case was booked against a retired Village Administrative Officer and a few others as stated in the complaint preferred by Mr. Narasimhan under IPC sections including 355 (Assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour person), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) 506 (i) (criminal intimidation) and 294 (b) (uttering obscene words in public place).
The incident occurred on Friday night when the processional idol was brought into the temple after a procession. Mr. Narasimhan had stated in his complaint that he was requesting the crowd of devotees to move faster when a group of persons allegedly abused him.
He further stated in the complaint that he was assaulted repeatedly by the group and the incident was watched by the devotees. Mr. Narasimhan claimed that the group assaulted him citing the complaint he had given against the temple authorities regarding the theft of idols.
The petition lodged by Mr. Narasimhan on alleged theft of idols and other artefacts from the Srirangam temple is being probed by the Idol Wing CID.
Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, Mr. Narasimhan said around 10 persons assaulted and kept abusing him and alleged that the group took away his cell phone and purse. He said the entire incident would have got recorded in the CCTV cameras installed inside the temple.
Police sources said two persons Manikandan and Santhoshkumar were arrested in connection with the assault.
The retired Village Administrative Officer Balasubramanian had also been arrested and remanded. However, since he was under treatment at the Srirangam Government Hospital he was under watch.